✰✰✰
"Trelawney, are you out of your mind" Elle hissed to George. It was the following morning, after George has convinced the brunette that she was unlikely to have any more nightmares, she reluctantly went to bed wanting to know more about the twin's secret plan.
"Well she is the expert in divination which is like... future and stuff" George shrugged as they paced along the corridor. The rising sun was still gleaming orange through the stone windows signalling that they were wandering around way too early.
"Yeah she's definitely not completely crazy" Elle rolled her eyes sarcastically.
"A thank you would be nice" George huffed,
"Thank you, you happy now?"
They climbed the ladder into the divination classroom and stared around blankly, it always smelled of dust and lavender in this room, the light made the room shine as the crystal ball's reflected this into tiny rainbows which danced on the walls. Elle hated divination and being in the room when unnecessary seemed even worse.
George and Elle stood silently looking around for the strange teacher when suddenly they spotted her dusting some tea cups in the corner.
"Professor" she jumped and dropped the tea cup sending it smashing across the floor in a hundred pieces,
"She obviously didn't see that coming" Elle muttered under her breath but the ginger ignored her.
"Oh hello dears" she sang in her high pitched voice waving her wand to correct the damage she'd just done to the cup, "we haven't got a lesson now have we?" She smiled but the pair shook their heads.
Elle eyed the teacher cautiously, her hair was mad with frizz and her glasses made her eyes look double the size, for some reason Elle had never warmed to the teacher and was grateful that she didn't require any extra lessons with her.
George replied "no" to Trewlaney and turned to Elle with an expecting glance, the teacher turned to her and it seemed like the room heat up as the girl flushed pink.
"I um... i was wondering if it was possible that someone could predict the future... through a dream" the professor squinted her large eyes as the brunette fidgeted nervously.
"If one has the gift then yes that would be possible... why do you ask such things?"
"One of Elle's dreams came true" George intercepted and Trelawney tilted her head in surprise,
"Really my dear? From what I could see in my lessons it seemed as though you did not possess the gift" she smiled sweetly, Elle felt her blood boil slightly but tried to remain calm.
"What was this dream about may I ask?"
"About me falling and George catching me... in quidditch" the last part wasn't exactly true as in her dream Elle had fallen through the floor yet she doubted this detail really mattered,
"And how similar was the dream to real life" the teacher continued,
"Very" Elle smiled certainly.
"And are you sure this couldn't have been a coincidence?" Elle paused for a moment which was all it took for Trelawney to pounce on her as though she was some pray.
"So she was no help" Elle stumbled down the ladder after Trelawney had spewed some rubbish about having the 'sight'
"You just don't possess the gift my dear" George mimicked the teachers accent and Elle laughed bumping into him as they stored down the corridor,
"Thanks anyway George" she smiled "I'm probably just overthinking things"
"It's no problem, I was worried last night when you came into our room, you looked like a ghost" he sniggered.
"I didn't mean to scare you" Elle laughed "I was just shocked from the dream that's all"
The two of them walked into a great hall and immediately saw Fred, Alicia and Angelina staring at them impatiently.
"Where the hell have you two been" Fred frowned "you weren't there this morning, thought you'd died to be honest" .
"You seem quite calm for believing your brother had just died" Elle smirked as she sat next to Angelina and grabbed some toast,
"Well I obviously know you're alive now" he droned "where have you been"
"Handing in some work to Trelawney" George lied quickly and Elle stared at him in surprise,
"You do work?"
"For Trelawney" the girls both enquired,
"It was my work..Just making sure I wasn't falling behind" Elle smiled wondering why George felt he had to lie, Elle hadn't told him to but maybe he thought it was for the best.
"Makes sense" Alicia half smiled "anyway some post came for you" she handed Elle a letter with her name scrawled messily on the front.
Only one person sent her mail so she knew it must be her uncle, she opened it and read the letter quickly in her head.
"You will have to go to your parents for Christmas.... they will meet you at the station" Elle repeated in a disgruntled tone to the group who were all waiting to hear what the letter said.
"Could be worse" Fred chirped,
"How?" Elle groaned "my parents hate magic... they'll probably lock my in the house so I can't come back"
"If that happens we'll come get you" George nodded proudly,
"Course we will" Fred joined in,
"You'll have to tell us where you live first though"
Elle felt sadness well over her as she shoved clothes into her case,
"This is seriously unfair... I'd rather just stay here" Alicia was lying on her bed listening to Elle's complaints as she secretly wished she was going home to spend her Christmas with a family,
"I wish you could stay here too" she jumped up and wrapped her arms around Elle's neck pulling her in for a tight and slightly uncomfortable hug, Elle laughed and pulled away noting how Alicia smelled like fresh cotton and roses.
"I'll miss you" Elle frowned,
"It's only two weeks cheer up" she smiled,
"Who else is staying at Hogwarts"
"Barely anyone" Alicia groaned "from our year mostly boys, except a Hufflepuff girl... I think she was called Emilia.
"Oh I know her.... Alicia she sits next to me in charms" realisation dawned on the curly haired girls face,
"Oh yeah I know who you mean... maybe I'll try to talk to her who knows" she shrugged,
Elle smiled before pulling Alicia in for one last hug,
"Wish me luck" Elle muttered
"Good luck... I need luck too"
"Good luck, I'll be back before you know it"
"You better be"
Elle stood on the platform waiting for the train alone, she hadn't been able to find any of her friends so she decided to leave without them. She knew that Fred and George would be returning home for the holidays to the burrow, which Elle learned was their family home.
Angelina was also returning home and Lauren and Katie were going skiing together. The train came and Elle noticed how few people there were on the platform, she must have left too early. It wasn't as though she was eager to return home, on the contrary she wanted nothing less but knew her parents would be thrilled to see her. She hoped.
She hoisted her large suitcase into one of the compartments and almost dropped it in surprise of how heavy it was. When she finally managed to shove it into a position where it wouldn't fall out, she turned to the corridor and began wondering whether her friends would find her if she got a compartment or whether she should wait on the platform.
✰✰✰
"Hey do you mind helping with this?" She heard a soft voice come from behind her, she turned to see a tall blonde girl with her hair pulled into a ponytail, she had a light fringe with shielded her blue eyes and was staring at her kindly.
"Yeah of course" Elle rushed over and helped the girl push the case next to her own,
"Thank you so much" she laughed breathlessly.
"There she is!" Elle turned to see a very tall boy duck into the train, he had blonde hair nearly longer than Elle's and dark blue eyes, his glasses were perched on his curved nose and he was smiling humorously at the blonde girl.
"I've been here the whole time" the girl smirked, the boy turned to Elle in surprise.
"Who are you?"
"Elle"
"Oh you're the new girl aren't you" Elle nodded, still sick of being called this after four months,
"I'm Patrick.... this is Anna" he pointed to the girl, "you need someone to sit with?" Truthfully Elle didn't need someone to sit with but she followed the pair of blondes happily anyway as they seemed nice, they ducked into a compartment and sat down.
"Are you brother and sister?" The two looked at each other before bursting out laughing while shaking their heads.
"Oh... are you two dating then" Elle asked in confusion, this made them laugh louder as Patrick clutched Anna's shoulder while hitting the chair with his palm.
"Are we dating?" He laughed "you.... think.... you think I'm straight" he wheezed between laughs,
"I didn't want to assume anything" Elle smiled noticing how contagious their laughter was becoming.
"No we're just friends" Anna smacked Patrick on the harm harshly to get him to stop laughing,
"No Anna you're my girlfriend" he said in a ridiculously high pitched tone,
"Not since the last time I checked"
"You do look similar" Elle piped up in her own defence,
"Therefore we're dating... what kind of Alabama is this" Patrick shouted.
"No" Elle couldn't help but keep laughing "I meant when I asked if you were related"
"Patrick you stupid cow" Anna scowled sarcastically.
"You two are... quite the pair"
"I know we are" Patrick smiled "Just like beauty and the beast... she's the beast" he added the last part in a whisper.
Elle thoroughly enjoyed the train ride with the two blondes, incidentally it took her mind off the two weeks she was facing with her parents.
She also learned a lot about the two. Patrick was in fourth year while Anna was in third like Elle. They were both incredibly smart despite their witty jokes and sarcastic attitudes.
Anna was an incredible artist and could draw realism so well that her art just looked like a photograph. Patrick was actually from Greece but hated it there which shocked Elle as she'd always thought it must be beautiful.
The two were extremely funny and left Elle in stitches at multiple occasions,
"I need to hang out with you two more" Elle creased as Patrick continued to tell another story about his younger cousin who he hated,
"So you can hear more about Rachel... are you nuts"
"Probably".
✰✰✰
The three of them climbed out of the train with their bags and Elle noticed her Gryffindor friends standing in a huddle on the platform, Elle waved bye to Anna and Patrick who were now loudly arguing over some game show they watched.
As she walked over the group frowned in surprise,
"Why do you keep sneaking off" Fred grunted,
"I was sitting with some Ravenclaws they're like a comedy duo" Elle laughed but the twins seemed hurt,
"There's only one comedy duo around here Elle and that is us" George huffed,
"Yes of course you two are the most comedic duo" the twins nodded proudly.
Elle ran through the platform after the twins feeling breathless as she appeared on the other side, Fred and George were being greeted by a short ginger woman who was obviously their mother,
"You two better not have gotten yourselves in trouble" she fluttered around them as they stood embarrassed as people in the station stared.
Elle waved goodbye to them before walking towards the door of the station having a sudden sinking feeling that her parents wouldn't show up, then she saw them standing stiffly by the door looking as boring as ever. Heather and Samson in the flesh.... and they didn't look happy.
✰✰✰