Countenance [1] Sirius Black's Daughter

xix- christmas

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

The voice of William Weasley echoed throughout the burrow, in the morning. Jessica groggily got up, and wore a dress, the same dress she wore last Christmas.

She went downstairs with Ginny, and wished everyone Christmas. Everyone, except Fred and George, whose eyes she avoided.

The mood of the burrow was as bright and cheerful as ever. Everyone sat together downstairs on couches and began to exchange gifts. Mrs. Weasley had gifted all the children, individual hand-knitted sweaters with the intial first letter of each person's first name. Jessica immediately put on her blue sweater, with a big "J" on it, in gold, and thanked Mrs. Weasley dearly, and she meant it too. She loved the sweater, it was incredibly warm and soft, overall, extremely comfortable to wear, especially in the freezing weather.

This was the part she was dreading. Any moment now, Fred and George would open their presents, and have their hearts crushed.

To take her mind off, she called Percy over to give him her present. She had gotten him a copy of, "Prefects who gained power". It was the most boring thing she could imagine, which was why she knew he would love it.

"Thank you so much, I really wanted this book for a long time! But, it's so expensive, you shouldn't have -"

"Don't worry about it, Percy!"

Percy gave Jessica an even more boring book, which she pretended to love. It seemed to satisfy him, so she went with the flow.

She exchanged gifts with Ginny, and Bill, they had all given each other treats like Chocolate Cauldrons and such. Out of the corner of her eye, Jessica spotted Fred and George reaching for the present.

Their mouths were agape, as they very slowly opened the box. Jessica couldn't bear to look as their expression changed completely. They looked devasted. Their eyes switched towards Bill who pointed at Ginny and Jessica. They looked sad.

Jessica got up, cleared her throat, and shoved a box into their hands. It was the same box of all the pranks Hogsmede had ever released. But this time, when they opened it, it was filled with the original contents.

Before they could say anything, Jessica was not there anymore

Jessica was an idiot. She knew it, she knew that she had a soft spot for the twins, and she knew she couldn't bear to play such a cruel prank on them. So she discreetly got them a real set of pranks. She was such an idiot, she couldn't even play a prank on somebody.

Her mood lightened when she saw a familiar owl, carrying two letters and packages. She unfolded the first letter, which was from Remus. She read it with a smile on her face.

Dear Jessica,

Padfoot and I have been having a good time at Hogwarts, not as good as it would've been with you, but good enough. The feast was just as amazing as I remembered it to be, and I managed to sneak some food off to Padfoot.

Anways, about your gift, I absolutely love it. It's definitely on the top list of all the gifts I've ever gotten. You don't know how much it means to me, I love it.

I know what a hard turn life takes once you come to be of age, which you will be soon, and I know that you've been stressing yourself out, all with the O.W.Ls, Padfoot and everything.