Secrets Only Trouble Knows - George Weasley

15 - Colorful

Despite initially feeling skeptical and a little bummed about having to remain at Hogwarts for the holidays, I'd worried for nothing. I had surprisingly enjoyed myself for the entire winter break thus far. I'd originally expected to spend most of my time alone, if not being constantly badgered by my brother and the twins, but that hadn't been the case at all. We'd been doing most things throughout the days together as a group and, miraculously, I hadn't minded it so much. I would obviously still bicker back and forth with George whenever I was around him like usual, but somehow the times with which I'd wanted to punch him had only been limited to approximately four. I was sure that had to have been an all-time low.

Christmas Day turned out to be just as lovely. After all the present opening we'd done, breakfast that morning was wonderful. The professors were all very merry, enjoying some wine and giggling together, which I thought was hilarious. At one point, Hagrid, who'd had way too many glasses in his system, even went so far as to kiss Professor McGonagall on the cheek. I'd never seen her blush before, but I was sure it was to the wine's credit.

When we were done stuffing our stomachs with a bountiful supply of delicious food, my friends and I simply spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging around the castle, relishing in how empty it was. With so few students currently remaining in it and all of the professors still enjoying each other's company in their own quarters, we were essentially free to do whatever we pleased without fear of getting punished.

So we had snowball fights outside in the courtyard, raced each other down long corridors to see who could run the fastest, played a massive game of hide and seek that spanned multiple floors, and of course indulged ourselves in endless rounds of Wizard's Chess and other magical games until it was eventually time for dinner. Then we returned to Gryffindor Tower and enjoyed some sweets for dessert, laughing when Percy inevitably started chasing Fred and George around the common room after they'd stolen his prefect badge and threatened to flush it down the boys' toilet.

Eventually the clock struck midnight and, while everyone else had trudged up to bed a long time ago, I was still snuggled up on the couch in front of the fire. My friends were all exhausted from such an exciting and eventful day, but I wasn't feeling as tired and instead had an itch to write in my journal. So I took advantage of the calm, empty, quiet common room and did just that.

Ever since I was a child, journaling had been a consistent outlet for me. Back home, half of my closest was filled with journals I'd entirely used up over the years. It was how I coped with things and expressed myself when it felt especially difficult to. Nothing I wrote was ever fancy— I wasn't writing stories or meaningful songs or poems. My entries were just scrambled thoughts about things that were bothering me or what I wanted to say to people but didn't have the heart to in person. Scattered throughout were some occasional quick sketches or doodles I'd done when I'd been bored in class too.

I'd realized I'd barely taken the time to write at all this entire term which was very unusual for me. Typically I'd bring my journal with me almost everywhere I went and jot down my thoughts whenever I got a second alone to myself, but for some reason I just hadn't been writing much at all. I blamed it mainly on having been so preoccupied with my school work now that I was in third-year and my studies were slowly starting to pick up. But now that I didn't have any of that sort of stuff to worry about at the moment, I could take the time to write and really relish in it. I'd had a lot on my mind recently that I needed to get out.

I started writing first about how this semester had been at large, wanting to reflect on these past few months of school given the days till the new year were dwindling down fast. I spent awhile commenting on how each one of my friends were doing. I talked about Callie and Kol being as wild as ever, meeting Harry and becoming close with him, Ron, and Hermione, sharing lots of laughs with the Flora and Isla, and how Jasper and the boys were really starting to shape up in Quidditch, becoming excellent players that were arguably just as good as some of the older boys on the other teams.