Closer To The Stars || Fred Weasley

36. Labels

Fred took Lorette back to her room that night, once she had transformed back into her human self. He had to carry her because she was too weak to walk. Turning into a harpy can be a lot of work and it takes a lot of energy.

Once she was in her bed and comfortable, Fred gave her a kiss on the forehead and said goodnight and left. But secretly, Lorette wanted him to stay. She didn't want to be alone.
...
The weekend was here and that meant there would be a trip to Hogsmaede awaiting. A few weeks ago during a special Charms class, Flitwick had announced that this year, on Christmas Eve, there would be a special dance- the Yule Ball. Amira and Vittorio immediately said they would visit them during the kids' next Hogsmaede trip to help them choose their gowns and dress robes. It was odd that Amira would be willing to spend time with her children.

"Children!" Vittorio met them with open arms. Amira was smiling at his side.

"Hello," Amira greeted. "Aren't you excited for today?! I love shopping for dresses!"

Okay, this was totally out of character for her. What the hell was going on?! Had someone died?!

"Well, let's get going! Before all the good dresses are gone!" Amira gestured for her three daughters to follow her, Ginny and Annabeth had decided to tag along as well. Marcus and Lorenzo went with Vittorio.

"So who are you girls going with?" Amira asked as she walked through the snow.

"I'm going with Draco," Sofia spoke after a long silence.

"What about you, Cala?" Amira turned to Lorette and Lucia.

"I'm going with Ernie Macmillan," Lucia continued.

"Ginny?" asked Amira.

"Neville Longbottom's asked me." Ginny hummed quietly.

"Oh he's a nice boy, Longbottom. It's a shame about his parents-" Amira paused before asking the same question to Lorette and Annabeth.

"I don't really know who I'll be going with," Annabeth blurted. "No one's asked me yet."

"And you Aria?"

"I suppose I'll be going with Theo," Lorette sighed.

"You suppose?" Amira repeated.

"He hasn't asked me formally yet," Lorette said plainly. "He might take Niki instead."

"Uh-oh," Lucia chuckled. "Trouble in paradise."

"Why on Earth would he ask Nicolette?" Amira asked with concern.

"He seems to have taken a liking to her recently." Lorette sighed.

"Alright well, there's always Fred," Amira attempted to comfort her daughter.

"Sure." Lorette said sarcastically, but Amira didn't give it attention.

They reached a small store on a corner, Lorette had never seen it before, and judging by how clean it looked, she imagined it was fairly new.

"Good afternoon, welcome to Bunny's Picks," a beautiful woman with long dark hair and green eyes greeted. She had an uncanny resemblance to-

"Amira?!" the woman said with a slight scowl mixed with a relieved smile.

Amira smiled warmly at her, "Hello, Imogen."

Of course, mother had spoken very rarely of her younger sister Imogen who had runaway from home to travel around the world as soon as she passed her VEELA exams. She never married or had kids or settled down and Margot and Christoph disapproved of it, of course. Amira hadn't spoken with Imogen since Lorette was very young. Why now?