A/N: I'm back again...

Disclaimer: Okay, okay, I don't own it!

Chapter Fourteen

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Esme woke up on Christmas morning to find the cool air scented with gingerbread. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and pulled an extra blanket from her pillows around her shoulders. She figured one of the house-elves must've put it up here, along with the plate of gingerbread men at the end of the bed. On the plate she also found a note written in icing on a flower-shaped cookie.

Merry Christmas, Esme!
Please enjoy these cookies, courtesy of the house elves.
All my love, Aimee xx

Smiling, she bit into the warm sweetmeat, before opening her other presents. From her mother she found a diary, and from her father was a picture book she used to read as a kid. She'd lost it one day and had been distraught... She smiled as she flipped through the familiar pages, before putting the childhood relic aside.

From Jeremy was a statuette of an owl, and from her cousins- Issy, Miranda and Jake- were some stylish muggle clothes, and she grinned. She also found a small trinket box from the Weasley's, a ring from Grace and a small bottle of potion from Euan. She read the note curiously.

Felix Felicis- makes you lucky. Banned in all competitions and exams.
Have fun!

Grinning, she put away her presents onto her bedside table before slipping out of the door. Since most of her things were still at Hogwarts, she had borrowed a nightgown from Victoire, though it was much too long and trailed on the floor. She stumbled over it, and stopped a moment to regain her balance, before tightening the blanket over her shoulders and making her way into the Common Room.

It was mainly empty- the others were probably still asleep- apart from one figure, curled up on Esme's favourite sofa. Coming closer, she recognised the coppery strawberry-blonde waves- it was Victoire. She came closer slowly, and sat down beside the older girl; Victoire was shaking and sniffling, and Esme gathered that she was crying.

"Victoire?" she asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

Victoire looked up, startled; her eyes were slightly pink, not the usual red most people's were. She wiped her eyes, nodding.

"Sorry, Esme- don't mind me. I'm just being an idiot."

"No, you're not," Esme said quietly. "Come on, Victoire, you can tell me." Victoire nodded, sniffling slightly.

"It's- it's just that- that I miss them all so much. My cousins, friends, family- I miss my sister and brother, a lot. And I miss my boyfriend... You probably think I'm so stupid, for crying like this on Christmas."

"I don't think you're stupid at all," Esme comforted. "I'm sure everyone's feeling a little home sick. I miss my parents, and my friends... I never got to say goodbye to Euan and Grace, and letters aren't really enough."

"I know," Victoire agreed, "I want to see Teddy so bad, not just write to him. It's... not the same."

"Your boyfriend's name is Teddy?" Esme checked. Victoire nodded.

"Teddy Lupin... he's left school already. He's twenty-one, actually... but you wouldn't know him even f I told you what he looks like, since he's a metamorphmagus."

"Is it quite common, then, being a metamorphmagus?" Esme asked. Victoire's eyes widened and she shook her head.

"No, of course not... hell no! Where'd you get that idea from?"

"The Beauxbaton's champion, Laura? She's a metamorphmagus."

"Really?" Victoire asked, raising an eyebrow. "The whole school was really upset when she got picked. Nobody really likes her that much, and she never attends classes unless she's bored."

Esme shrugged. "Well, I like her," she said, and then Fred came into the room, and the conversation was left at that.

They never did get a chance to continue. After Christmas dinner Esme hung out with Laura in the grounds; they argued, and ended up having a snowball fight. Laura was much better at enchanting snowballs then Grace, but when a stack of out-of-control snowballs kept on targeting them, the two girls ended up rolling down a hill to get away from them- and getting covered in water.

Then the week flew by, and Esme and Laura once again spent their time in the library. They had given up trying to find the exact creature, since they couldn't find it anywhere, and instead began researching different spells to use against them. The first spell they perfected was Otoaspidas, a charm that created earplugs that muffled sounds. Since the invisible creature's cries were supposed to make your ears bleed, they figured it would come in handy. Then Laura taught Esme Protego, the shield charm, and it was Esme who mastered Vestigium first, a handy spell that would leave marks where a creature had been, like little blotches of colour. Since the things they were supposed to be fighting were invisible, then they needed a way to 'see' them.

*

On New Year's Eve, the school(s) threw a party out on the fields. There were hardly any students left, so instead of something big the Professors had set up a portable gazebo and strung it with fairy lights. Under the gazebo they created a dance floor, chairs, tables, and a longer table which held a buffet. Esme hug around with Laura for most of it. They danced stupidly on the floor, ate until they were stuffed, and went out for a game of 'nighttime tag' at around ten. Esme was exhilarated; it was half past eleven and she had been running around in the dark, with only a weak Lumos to light the way.

At ten to twelve, the teachers announced there would be a firework display at midnight. Students lounged on the lawn, some stood and some sitting, all with friends, watching the skies eagerly. Esme and Laura sat apart from the others, lying underneath an old rowan tree. Esme leaned against Laura's shoulder, smiling.

"Thanks, Laura," she said quietly. "For everything." Laura shook her head.

"No need to thank me! If anything, I should be thanking you! You're... you're my best friend, Esme."

"You're mine, too. Well, apart from Grace and Euan, that is."

"You're like... You're like the sister I never had," Laura said, sounding emotional.

"So I'll be your sister," Esme said quietly. "We'll be honorary sisters."

"I'd like that," Laura mumbled sleepily, and held out her arm; Esme leaned into her sister and the arm closed around her. And that was how they were sat, two minutes later when the countdown began.

"TEN!" everyone roared. "NINE... EIGHT... SEVEN... SIX... FIVE... FOUR..." Esme grabbed onto Laura's hand, excitement coursing through her, "THREE... TWO..." That second seemed to last a lifetime, as Esme looked up at Laura and stared into her sister's eyes as they both mouthed the word, Forever.

"ONE!" the assembled roared, and fireworks shot into the sky, making the most fantastic shapes. A loud cheer rang out among the students.

"HAPPY TWENTY-TWENTY!

A/N: Well happy twenty-twenty; the last chapter for today! Is it just me, or is Esme and Laura a really cute couple, in a sistery kind of way?

Well, see you next time;

-Invisi