The Burning of the White Wisteria

CHAPTER 7: THE WEEK BEFORE

"Remember, children," Professor McGonagall stated, "going into the town is a privilege, not a gift. No misbehaving will be tolerated. Am I clear?" The crowd of students let out a vast sound of approval. The wise eyes of McGonagall scanned over the various people before finally setting eyes on who she was looking for. "That includes you four: Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew. I'll be watching you especially closely."

I couldn't help but laugh, turning around to glance at the Marauders. They already looked to be up to something, large devious smiles on their faces as they whispered to each other.

"Thank Merlin they're taking us into Hogsmeade," Mara said, "I have absolutely no gifts ready for my family and we only have a week before we break for Christmas."

"Any plans on what to get them?" Luci asked, wrapping herself into her black coat. It was ridiculously cold out at a staggering 10 degrees. I'd worn a big black fur coat, courtesy of my mother, a white turtleneck, a pair of jeans, and some nice fuzzy Christmas socks in my boots.

"Yeah," Mara said, awkwardly tripped on some snow, "probably will just be some things I find at the discount rack. You?"

"I've been ready since November," Luci shrugged, glancing up at the foggy grey sky, "my family likes... Eccentric gifts so I had to order everything early or else it wouldn't have come in time. What about you, Alexa?"

"Well," I thought, rubbing my hands together to try and warm up my fingers, "I already know what to get Abraxas, I figured I could just buy Mum some sort of jewellery and she would be satisfied, but my Father... I have no idea."

We continued to walk into the town, already hoping to escape the cold as quickly as we could. Hogsmeade was alight with Christmas spirit, shops covered in brilliant coloured lights, pine trees stood outside various shops covered in ornaments, and the smell of warm hot chocolate wafted right to my nose.

I loved Christmas at Hogwarts; spending time with Mara and Luci, having dinner in the festively decorated great hall, and singing Christmas songs in the common room. It was nothing like Christmas when I went home. My mind drifted back to that dream I had not that long ago before we arrived at the first shop we wanted to go into.

~~

An hour or two later, I was able to finish the majority of my shopping. The only thing I hadn't gotten already was a gift for my father. I was really stumped on the matter. Adolphus Malfoy is a strict man with an even stricter taste for gifts.

Truth be told, I didn't care that much if Father liked my gift or not. I had given up on receiving his affections years ago, figuring that it was just not simply possible. The man didn't know how to love anyone-- not even himself.

"Want to grab a butterbeer?" Luci asked, lips almost blue.

"That sounds amazing right now," I sighed, wishing I had brought my gloves after all.

The three of us made our way into The Hog's Head Inn, a dingy little pub with excellent butterbeer. It was nice and warm inside, a relief to my cold body, and was full of loud people. I wasn't surprised to see that the Marauders had decided to come here. I leaned over to Mara, who was ordering a drink, "Order one for me. I'll pay you back."

I approached the table of boys, who nowadays I genuinely thought of as my friends, and leaned on the table. "Funny to see you here."

"Evening, Alexa," Remus said, a smile on his scarred face. "Fancy a drink?"

I took a look at the drink he had in his hand: firewhiskey. I couldn't help but laugh after I realized it. "Why am I not surprised you three were up to something?" I sighed and motioned for Sirius to move over and sat next to him. "How'd you pull that off?"