𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐬

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟑

"So," I said as we all piled inside Hogwarts. "Can I come over to your houses again this Christmas?" I always go to Katie, Alicia, or Angelina's houses for Christmas every year. we were trying to not think about what we overheard. 

"Yeah!" they all said. 

"Let's go to the Owlery," I said.  

Alicia nodded. "Yeah, c'mon," she said. 

"I saw you all at Zonko's," said a mischievous voice. We all turned to see Fred and George followed by Lee Jordan who was all holding Zonko's Joke Shop bags. 

"Yeah it was all Alicia's idea," Angelina, I, and Katie all said at once, pointing at Alicia. 

Alicia looked taken aback. "You all agreed!" she protested. 

"Well, what did you buy?" Lee demanded. 

"Nothing," I said as we all shrugged. 

"What do you mean nothing?" they all asked, astonished.

 "We went away after that teacup," Katie said accusingly.

 Fred, George, and Lee laughed.

 "We saw that," Fred said in between his laughs. "It was hilarious!" 

I smiled. "Well," I muttered, "I guess." 

"It was NOT funny!" Angelina said crossly. 

"Fine," George said still laughing. 

"I'm going to the Owlery," said Angelina outrageously as she stalked away muttering furiously at Fred, George and Lee. 

"We're going too," Alicia said as we all heeled after Angelina. 

ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ☆ﾟ ゜ﾟ

"So," I said as three barn owls flew into the room and dropped their letters. Angelina, Katie, and Alicia all opened their letters. "Who's going to tell me what they got in their letters?"  I asked as Pecker flew into the room and landed on my shoulder. I took the piece of parchment off his leg. 

𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒮𝑒𝓁𝑒𝓃𝑒,

𝐼'𝓂 𝓈𝑜 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒾𝒻 𝐼'𝓂 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒩𝑒𝓋𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒 𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒶𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜, 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓇. 𝐼 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝒻𝑒. 𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒞𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓂𝒶𝓈, 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀. 𝒮𝓅𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝐹𝓁𝑜𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝑜𝓇 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈. 𝐼 𝓈𝓊𝑔𝑔𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝐹𝓁𝑜𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓃 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓈 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹. 𝒢𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉, 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒.

𝑅𝑒𝑔𝒶𝓇𝒹𝓈,𝒢𝓇𝒶𝓃

 I was about to say something it if it wasn't for Angelina who said, "Why don't you read yours, Selene?" 

I looked up. "Um, really?" I asked taken aback. Usually, all of them would be clamoring about who would read their letter first. I cleared my throat. 

"Dear Selene, I'm so sorry if I'm bothering you. I love Neville as much as you do, dear. I hope you are safe. I won't be able to see you this Christmas, I think. Spend time with Florean and the others or one of your friends. I suggest Florean, but your friends are as good. Good night, love. Regards, Gran," I read. I looked up and crumbled the paper in my hands. 

"I'm so sorry, Selene," Katie said sympathetically. 

"You all should be used to this," I said sharply as I looked down at my shoes. "Gran never invites me to the Christmas dinner." 

I looked at the Chasers. "Tell me yours," I said a bit more cheerier.  

Angelina, Katie, and Alicia all bit their lips. "Um, Katie can go first," Alicia said. 

"Er - Angelina, you can go," Katie said quickly. 

"No, Alicia, you go," Angelina said. Okay, something was obviously wrong. 

"Katie, just go," I said. Katie looked up startled. 

"Um, okay," she said as she sighed. "Dear Katie, you're great-auntie Lara's coming home this Christmas and I don't know if you know, but Auntie Lara doesn't like other people during Christmas. Dear Selene has to not come to our house. She will be coming five days before Christmas. Tell Selene our apologies, Mum and Dad." My mouth went completely dry as Katie crumpled the paper and threw it in the bin angrily. 

"Why does she have to come this Christmas? Couldn't she have come next Christmas?" she said angrily as she crossed her arms in a jerky manner. 

"Angelina, you read yours," I said. 

Angelina stared perplexed at me. 

"Hello? Angelina! ANGELINA!" I said as I snapped my fingers in front of her face. Angelina snapped back to reality and cleared her throat. 

"Dear Angelina, you're grandmother is, fortunately, coming finally to Christmas. You know she has high expectations for all of us. Therefore, Selene cannot attend our house this Christmas. If Selene is reading this, Selene, dear, we are thoroughly sorry. She will be coming five days before Christmas. See you at Christmas, Mum, and Dad," Angelina read. Angelina reacted more than Katie had. She stomped her foot on the ground. 

"That evil hag!" she roared. "My grandmother had to come this Christmas! That evil, filthy, high-expectation setting hag!"

 I shook my head slowly. "Don't call her a hag," I said.

 "You don't know how she is, Selene," Angelina said jerkily. "She once hit me black and blue because I didn't know how to do the Levitation Charm! That was before Hogwarts!" She stomped her foot again. 

"Angelina, calm it," I said. "Alicia, yours." 

I was hoping Alicia's wasn't as rough as Angelina's or Katie's letter. "Dear Alicia, your cousins from Romania will be coming soon with their families. We can't have Selene. Sorry, Sel. She will be coming five days before Christmas. Hope to see you during Christmas on time, Mum and Dad," Alicia read. Again Alicia raged. 

"Oh! So now I have to go dilly-dallying around my cousins begging them to play? What am I, a toddler? No! I'm a proud fifth year! I will not-" Alicia ripped the letter into halves - "Be with-" she ripped it into fourths - "The cousins-" she ripped it into eights - "who are the rudest!" She threw it into the bin. 

"Don't worry," I said soothingly to all of them. "I'll be fine with Uncle Florean."