Frozen Lily

Chapter 14 - Snow, Sneaking and Automatic Snowball Launchers

Not long after the Gryffindor/Slytherin match, the Christmas Holidays began, which meant finishing homework, Chloe leaving, Mia trying to decide what to wear for the 'Puff Party, Mia worrying over whether Will would tell her what was up, and me working up the courage to collect my prize from the bet.

"Mia, when do you think I should go to Alec?" I asked her. We were sitting in our common room on the sofas next to the fire; me trying to concentrate on my Transfiguration homework, Jess being quiet (for once) and doing her own homework, and Mia wrapped up in a scarf, all hyped up by the fact it was only 4 days to the Christmas Party hosted by the Hufflepuffs in the Great Hall (they'd got special permission for one night). The only students left apart from the odd First year and the few Fourth years were all Fifth years and above. There were a large group of Slytherins, a smaller group of Ravenclaws, a group of Hufflepuffs, and mainly sixth and seventh year Gryffindors staying. It was only me, Mia, and Jess and a few other guys staying in my year.

"I don't know... Maybe when you see him next? And should I coordinate my outfit with Will's? When I see him?" I shrugged and rolled up my finished essay.
"Done Jess?"
"Oh- yeah." She snapped out of her staring into space and she motioned to her own finished essay. We put them away and cleaned our stuff up; Mia wanted to plan her outfit a few days before the actual party, which meant me and Jess also had to decide our clothes in advance. With lessons over and only a few pieces of homework left (we were nerds- well, not Mia so much), I decided to agree because hey, what else am I going to do?

Seeing as I'd pretty much forgot about being able to go to the party during the summer, I hadn't brought any dresses with me, which meant we had to sneak out to Hogsmeade. Mia had made me and Jess retreat to the dorm to change into what she called 'more sneaky' clothes.

We stepped out of the Entrance Hall a bit later, wrapped in scarves and hats on top of our 'more sneaky' clothes, which were pretty useless underneath our coats. We made it look like we were just going out to have a snowball fight, when in reality we were going to walk around to make it look like we were going towards the lake, then double back and take the path towards the Quidditch pitch but turn at the fork and take the path to Hogsmeade instead of the pitch. Then we'd be shielded by the trees from wind and any teachers. We'd only spend two hours there so no one would notice we were gone.
The plan was complicated (well not really) and it was really hard to stop ourselves turning back to the warm common room with its crackling fire, squashy armchairs and the promise of food and fun.
We stepped into the Hogsmeade street and looked at the shops next to us. Across the road was The Three Broomsticks, a cosy bar run by Madam Rosmerta II that Hogwarts students loved to visit during Hogsmeade trips. I really wanted to get a nice warm Butterbeer, but Mia and Jess had already started down the street to a large shop called 'All Wizard Apparel'. I followed them into the light, airy shop. The windows were showcasing bright Wizard robes but also a small section of the shop had Muggle clothes; suits and dresses etc. Mia was running her hands over the clothes in the rails, before picking out a deep green dress that was the exact colour of holly leaves. She held it up on herself and inspected it, before replacing it on the rack and picking out another one. I just chose a pretty gold dress, tried it on, and bought it. I went outside to get some fresh air, telling Mia so, but she just waved me off, debating whether Jess should get a short red dress. There was a pretty dry bench just outside the shop, so I curled up with my knees beneath my chin and waited.
Sitting in the same place on the bench an hour later, I was still curled up, but frozen to the bone and too lazy to check whether they were done to just be disappointed. There was a small statue of a dog next to a fence at the end of the street, which I haven't seen before on any of my previous Hogsmeade trips. Standing up now, I walked to it and looked around. I felt a bit self-conscious for no reason.
The black statue was of a large, shaggy dog wagging its tail. The plaque told its story.