A bright flash to our left caught my attention, yet another First Year turning into a canary.
"That's the fourth one this morning" I giggled, taking a sip of my pumpkin juice, "They've got to catch on at some point, surely"
"It's your fault for helping those bloody twins to sell them all" Miles scowled, plucking a yellow feather from his hair, "my holidays did not need this kind of distraction"
"Awww, is someone still mad that they got caught by a Weasley trick?" Beth pouted, leaning dramatically on Miles, "someone's got a frowny face"
"It's just a bit of fun" Ebony added, "They're getting in the festive spirit"
Miles narrowed his eyes at her, "I'm still angry at you so you shouldn't be choosing to go against me right now"
"Oh boo hoo, just accept that Fred and George did an amazing thing and Lee and I are excellent advisors"
Beth and Miles began to smile at that, arms wrapping around my waist a few moments later.
"It's nice to know you're so proud of me even when I'm not around" Fred murmured, lips brushing against my ear.
"Hey! She's proud of all of us, not just you" George complained.
I snickered, letting Fred help me up from the bench, "is it time?"
"Hell yeah it is" Lee grinned, covered head to toe in warm knit wear, "Come on!"
I waved goodbye to my friends as I followed Lee, the twins close behind me, racing to the courtyard.
"Yes! It's a perfect amount of snow!" George cheered, "2v2, let's do this!"
"You're going down" Fred grinned menacingly.
"We've got this Lee!" I yelled, diving into the snow and beginning to frantically make snowballs, "No remorse!"
"No surrender!" He cried back.
After about half a minute, we had accumulated a small pile of snowballs and I chanced a peek over the rock I was using for cover.
I ducked, just missing a snowball that skimmed the top of my head, Fred cursing at his near-miss.
"I'll get you for that Weasley!"
"I'd like to see you try!"
After that, the game dissolved into chaos, snowballs being thrown back and forth across the square with increasing intensity.
By the time the twins had forced Lee and I into a corner of the courtyard, our game was interrupted by Ebony.
"Emily, weve got to go. Now"
"No, no, no! What are you doing?"
I stared at Beth helplessly, "I'm trying on dresses?"
Next to her, Ebony facepalmed, gesturing to the opposite side of the shop, "These are not ball gowns! Over there are the ones we need"
I shot a bewildered look at Hermione who just laughed, Ginny having the decency to at least hide the fact that she was laughing at my expense.
"Well I'm sorry! I didn't realise I was out shopping with the fashion police" I huffed, following the two of them to the correct part of the store, eyes widening at the amount of dresses (and Hogwarts students) there.
"Right we'll start with the youngest first, so Hermione and Ginny lets get you both sorted out" Ebony said, looking them up and down, "I'm thinking pink hues for Hermione and blue for Ginny?"
"Agreed"
"Emily?"
"Uh- yes?"
"Okay good lets have a look then shall we"
Half an hour later, the two girls were smiling widely, looking at themselves in the mirror with a new level of confidence.
Ginny, looking close to tears, pulled me aside quickly, "I don't think I can afford this. Mum gave me 5 galleons but this dress..." she trailed off, looking morose.
"I'll cover it" I said firmly, shushing her before she could object, "before you feel guilty I want you to think of all the times your family has fed and housed me over the years"
Ginny nodded slowly.
"Now think of how much that would've cost if I was at a hotel"
Ginny nodded again, looking slightly less guilty.
"Let me do this for you, okay?"
Smiling, Ginny wrapped me in a tight hug, "I'm so glad my brother met you"
"I'm glad he met me too"
"Okay, that's you two done. Beth and I can sort ourselves out - will you help Emily?"
I gaped at Ebony, "oi! I don't need help picking out a dress"
Hermione scoffed, "Yes you do, you didn't even want to be here"
"That's beside the point-"
"Just shush and let us help" Ginny grinned, looking at all the dresses with glee, "This'll be fun"
About three minutes later I was entering the dressing room with a pile of dresses to try.
"Do I really have to try all of these?" I groaned, looking at the pile, "I don't even like some of them"
"Chuck us out the ones you don't like and try on the rest then" Ginny called, pausing for a moment before adding, "but don't give us back all of them or we'll find even more for you tor try"
I stopped in my tracks, placing them all down with a sigh, picking up five I didn't like and passing them out of the stall, leaving me with three to try on.
The first one clashed badly with my skin, getting a 'you look worse than Peeves' from Beth who was passing the changing rooms.
The second one hung oddly around the waist, getting a definite no from both Hermione and Ginny.
"Okay this is the last one" I announced, stepping out of the dressing room.
"That one"
"Definitely that one"