Forever... Always

Year 3 - Christmas at Hogwarts

    Last day of term, finally. Cedric and I were rather excited to go home for Christmas. Both of our parents had left us in a bit of a hurry at the beginning of the term and we miss them dearly. We headed to breakfast with Ash, Linden and Amber. We all sat together and started eating when the mail arrived. Daisy came swooping in front of me and dropped a letter on the table before perching herself on my shoulder. The letter was from my parents.
    'Our dearest Rayne,
    We're incredibly sorry to have you find this out so late, but you won't be coming home from Christmas this year. Your muggle grandparents are moving back to France and both your mother and I took time off work to help them. We got news from Molly that the Weasleys will be staying at Hogwarts as well, as Molly, Arthur and Ginny are going to Romania to visit Charlie. We love you forever dear, always. We hope that you'll have a wonderful Christmas and we'll send yours and the Weasleys presents closer to Christmas day.
                                        -Mom and dad
P.s. We'll also get you something from Marseille when we get there.'
My muggle grandparents are moving back to France? I'm staying at Hogwarts? Why didn't they tell me this earlier? I was sitting there staring at the letter completely confused.
"What's the matter?" Cedric asked.
"I'm staying here, for Christmas." I said blankly.
"Why's that?" Amber asked sympathetically, knowing that Christmas is my favorite holiday.
"My grandparents are moving and my parents are helping them. I just don't understand how this came up so suddenly."
"Is there anyone you know that'll be staying?" Linden asked.
"Vixen and I are staying." Ash told me, trying to comfort me.
"The Weasleys are staying as well, so I'll have them, but it won't be the same. I've always had Christmas with my parents and all the Weasleys and now..." I paused. "Now I wont see my parents, Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur or Ginny. I won't even get to see George, Fred and Ron if they stay in their common room." I said with a sigh.
"You forgot Percy." Cedric told me.
"He won't want to see me anyway. I'd be surprised if he even says anything to me in the next two weeks."
We ate mostly in silence after that. I'm a little frustrated with my parents. Moving isn't a decision you make spontaneously, so how long had my grandparents been thinking about it and why hadn't my parents told me? I guess it doesn't really matter though because either way, I'd be staying at Hogwarts for Christmas.
We finished eating and Cedric, Ash and I were leaving for Astronomy when George and Fred came running up to me.
"What's with the long face Rayne?" George asked.
"I'm staying at Hogwarts for Christmas."
"What's so bad about that? We're staying too." Fred stated.
"I know, I know. I just don't want things to be different from how they were. I'll accept this better if you two promise you'll spend most of the day with me. Ash, do you think you and Vixen would want to spend the day with us as well?"
"Of course we'll spend the day with you Rayne." Fred and George said together.
"I'm sure Vixen would love to as well." Ash assured me.
"It's settled then, the five of us are spending Christmas day together." I said with a smile. "Best be off. See you!"
                     ***
I woke up just before sunrise, as I have been for a while now because I need to perform the Animagi incarnation. I pointed the tip of my wand to my heart.
"Amato Animo Animato Animagus." I said softly.
I haven't had to worry about whispering because so many people have gone home for the holidays. Amber had gone to celebrate Christmas with Marcus and his parents this year. I'm very happy for her and I'm glad I don't have to whisper the incarnation in case she wakes up.
I checked my calendar after I performed the incarnation. Today is Christmas day. I decided to stay in my pjs as there are very few who stayed at Hogwarts. I brushed my teeth and hair, slipped on my slippers and made my way to the common room. When I arrived, Ash and a few others were already there.
"Good morning!" Ash said enthusiastically. "How'd you sleep?"
"Good morning Ash. I slept well and you?" I sat, sitting on the couch next to him.
"Great! I'm surprised I slept at all. I love Christmas."
"Happy Christmas everyone!" Professor Sprout exclaimed as she entered the common room.
"Happy Christmas!" We all said back.
"As you all should be able to see, there's plenty of gifts under the tree. Why do you all take whichever are yours." Sprout said sweetly.
We all sprung up and grabbed our gifts.
"Alright, see you all at the feast tonight!" She said joyously before leaving.
Ash brought his gifts to the couch and I followed.
"This is beautiful!" I said as I opened my parents' gift, pulling out a ring that was locally made in Marseille.
The ring was silver with a small emerald cut lemon quartz.
Ash opened his gifts. There ended up being a lot of sweets. Finally, there was only one left between the two of us.
"It's yours." He said handing it to me.
I opened it to find another jumper, though this one is purple with a yellow R. I immediately slipped it on.
"We should get dressed to go to breakfast." I said with a giggle, realizing what time it was. "Meet me back here in a few minutes and we can walk together."
I ran to my dorm and swiftly took off my pjs. I put on some fuzzy socks, then a pair of black jeans and my new jumper again. I took a daisy clip and clipped back one side of my hair. I rushed back to the common room as Ash appeared.
We ran off to the Great Hall together. I took a corner a little too fast and as a result, I fell and slid. We both started laughing, but quickly stopped after hearing more laughter. I looked up to see Vixen laughing.
"You need to be more careful." She said, trying to stop laughing. "You could have gotten hurt."
"I seriously doubt that," Ash said, looking at Vixen as if she'd spoiled the fun. "but we can be less careful outside later."
We all sat at the same table. This was allowed because of how little students stayed. I sat myself between George and Fred.
"I see you guys got your jumpers... and you even got Percy in his?" I said looking over to Percy, who had seated himself farther away from us.
"We put in on him, just like last year." Fred said boastfully.
"Obviously he's not a happy fellow about it." George said with a chuckle. "Hey, I like that colour. Can I wear it?"
"No you can't. You still have my other one." I said, in between bites of sausage.
We all ate and talked about what we'd do today. We ended up deciding that we could go outside. We all left for our common rooms after we finished eating to get our beanies and mittens. We then met back up in the courtyard.
"How about we go skating?" I suggested.
"Skating?" Both Vixen and Ash asked.
"But we haven't got skates." Fred stated, as if that wasn't obvious.
"It'll be more fun in our boots. To the lake!" I yelled, running towards it.
Everyone followed me without any more questions until we reached the edge of the lake. I carefully got on the ice and started to clear the snow to make us a makeshift skating rink.
"C'mon! Get over here!" I yelled, waving Vixen and Ash over. "Now all you have to do is slide your feet back and forth like this. Then to make yourself have better traction and speed, you'll push your feet out like this."
They were naturals. They caught onto it in no time and we'd started to run into each other like bumper cars. Vixen came speeding up, knocking me right into the snow banks on the edges of our rink. We all laughed together. I decided it was time to change things up, so I threw a snowball at Ash. This caused a snowball fight. We ran off the lake and into the deep snow that surrounded the castle. Soon we were all covered from head to toe in a layer of snow. We'd decided that it was time to call it quits. Returning to the castle, Ash chased after Vixen before she tripped him and he face planted into the snow. Fred, George and I had our arms around each other laughing at Ash's antics.
I'm rather glad that my parents made me stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. I'm now friends with Vixen, I got closer with Ash and I got to spend a marvelous day with two of my best friends. I suppose this Christmas wasn't nearly as bad as I'd originally thought it could be.