The Mute Girl

Chapter 3

Once again anything itcalized is sign language and anything bolded is written down.

The next day when everyone leaves, I go and give Fred his Christmas gift.

"Elizabeth! You didn't have to get me anything."

"Yeah well I wanted to. You did the one thing no one in this school did last year. You became my friend." He smiles at me but then starts to frown.

"It just feels weird going home and not going to talk to my cousins and sister this holiday because they were rude to you." Fred tells me with a sigh upon seeing my concerned look.

"Roxanne apologized to me and she misses you."

"Did she tell you to tell me?" I shake my head no. He looks thoughtful.

"Okay. I will talk to Roxanne this holiday. What are you doing for the holiday?"

"Staying here. I prefer the quietness of the castle to busyness of the holidays with my family." He frowns.

"You shouldn't be alone for the holidays Eliza."

"Eliza?"

"Trying out a nickname. You don't like it?" I smile at him.

"I like it, it's just no one except my parents have given me a nickname that wasn't an insult. And it's fine. I don't mind being alone for the holidays."

"Are you sure? You really don't mind being all alone?" I smile at him and place a hand on his arm.

"It's fine Fred. Go home and see your family. I'll be alright." he smiles at me and gives me a hug.

"Happy holidays Eliza." I smile and wave at him as he leaves for the train station. I head back to the tower by myself and head up to my dorm room which is empty because everyone is at home with their families. Snowflake is sitting on my bed. I move my blanket to let her know that I am there. She looks up and sees me and softly meows at me. I pick her up and put her on my lap. Petting her I think about the past four months. How I made a friend and how special he makes me feel. I have started to develop a small crush on the boy. He doesn't make me feel like the stupid mute girl. I decide to do my homework. I lose track of time and soon it is time for dinner which means I missed lunch which explains why I am so hunrgy. When I get down to the Great Hall, I notice Fred sitting at the table. I sit down beside him a little confused on what he is doing here since I am pretty sure he left on the train hours ago.

"Hey Eliza." Fred says smiling at me. I wave at him still a little confused.

"What are you going here? I thought you were home with your family for the holidays." I write on an napkin. He smiles at me.

"I couldn't just let you stay here by yourself with no one to hang out with so I changed my mind and decided to stay with you. I owled my parents so they are not worried about why I didn't come off the train with my sister and cousins." Fred tells me with a smile. I wrap my arms around him and he hugs me right back. We sit there in silence for the duration of dinner. For the next couple days, we have free reign of the Gryffindor Tower being the only ones here. We walk around school and I insist that we help the teachers who remained behind with whatever they need help with and Fred gladly helps and I help him with his sign langue so we can now have a conversation in sign language. On Christmas morning, I wake up and see some presents at the foot of my bed. I open the one from my parents first. It is a new sketchbook with sketching supplies. From my aunt Martha I got some hair supplies making me roll my eyes because I am not interested in making myself prettier. From my grandparents I get some muggle money to spend which doesn't help because there are not any muggle stores around here. I even get a gift from Fred. I open it to see some Magical History books something I mentioned I was interested in. Then I notice three more presents there. I open the first one to see a book on magical careers from someone named Hermione Granger-Weasley who I know is the Minster of Magic and also is Fred's aunt. Then I open one of the remaining presents and it is a fluffy white jumper with a pale blue E on it and a tin of fudge. This gift is from Fred's grandma Molly Weasley. The last gift is a box of prank supplies from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes from Fred's dad and owner of the joke shop, George Weasley. I pull on my new jumper, and a pair of black skinny jeans with a red Santa hat and fill my bag with the tin of fudge, a history book, my art supplies, my new sketchbook, some prank supplies from the box, and the presents I bought for Prof. Longbottom, Prof. Slughorn, and Headmistress McGonagall. I head downstairs to see Fred waiting for me.