Hi. I know we're late. We're so sorry about that but with the holidays, we didn't have enough time to write. This is the holiday chapter so we really should've posted this during Christmas. Luckily, we were able to write it so it's posted on New Year's Day. Okay, it's a bit over where we live but close enough. Also, this chapter is extra long, a lot longer then usual.
We don't live in London so we struggled to find stores in London so these stores may not necessarily be found in malls. The mall may also not be that accurate. If anyone can tell us please PM or review if they know a better store so we can fix it. You're probably a bit confused but you'll get it later.
Another thing (sorry this A/N is getting so long), we are going to be on hiatus for a while. With exams coming up we don't have enough time to write. We'll continue posting the first week of February. Sorry for that but hopefully this will make up for it.
Hope you enjoy!
Warning OCs
DISCLAIMER: WE DO NOT OWN ANYTHING THAT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE ORIGINAL STORY OF HARRY POTTER! IT ALL BELONGS TO J.K ROWLING. WE ALSO DO NOT OWN RICE KRISPIES, WII, ANGRY BIRDS, MCDONALDS, SPONGEBOB, BLACKBERRY, APPLE PRODUECTS, NOVATECH, PRIMARK, BLUE BANANA, NANDO'S, LAST CHRISTMAS, FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, AMERICAN EXPRESS, H&M, FOREVER 21, WHSMITH, AND HAMLEYS. (Are you confused? :D)
Jennifer's POV
Luckily no one else is in the Hospital Wing. Natalie, as usual, is sleeping peacefully still looking unmoved and lifeless. I hope she wakes up soon. She's been asleep for way too long...
We find her bag on the bedside table and begin to go through it. I pull out a whole pile of things. I don't think I would use even half of these things during my time at Hogwarts. I find books, potions, quills, rolls of parchment and things I can't even name. I even find a few rice krispies.
"This could take forever! She has practically everything in there." I say as I pull out another potion bottle.
"Maybe we could dump everything out." says Michelle.
"I think some of that stuff might be fragile. Who know what else is in there." says Tamara.
"We could pour it on the empty beds." says Michelle.
"I guess so." I say. "We should do it slowly though. It could still fall on the floor."
We pour everything on the bed next to Natalie. The pile is almost as tall as me. I look in her bag to make sure we haven't missed anything.
"Natalie's Keyboard." I say pulling it out. I set it down and start playing Frosty the Snowman. I begin to sing and soon Tamara joins in.
Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul,
With a corncob pipe and a button nose
And two eyes made out of coal.
Frosty the snowman is a fairy tale, they say,
He was made of snow but the children
Know how he came to life one day.
"Have you guys gotten Christmas Carol-itis or something?" asks Michelle. We just ignore her. I finish and begin to play Jingle Bells. I play up to the third verse when the sound stops. I look to see that Michelle has pressed the off switch.
"Well you've gotten into the Christmas spirit." I say sarcastically.
She just rolls her eyes. "We need to find the pages before someone comes in. That would be bad. We look like singing burglars right now."
"Fine, I guess we should." I say as I put the keyboard back in Natalie's backpack with the help of Tamara.
We search as we put things back in Natalie's bag. If it was put in in a certain way it's nowhere close to that now. I hope you doesn't mind. As I open a book labeled planner a name catches my eye.
November 1
Talk to Aidan.
Why would she need to talk to Aidan? It doesn't seem like she knows him that well. Does she? I continue to flip through the pages to see if I can find anything else. There isn't much after that, mostly just homework and assignments that she decided to do months in advance- oh Natalie.
"Hey, look at this." I say showing Tamara and Michelle. They both have puzzled expressions on their faces.
"Aidan? Why would she need to talk to him?" says Michelle, knitting her eyebrows together at the familiar name of a certain redhead.
"Does it say anywhere about what?" asks Tamara as she flips through the planner.
"No. I checked the whole book. Did you see anything in any of the stuff you searched?" I ask.
Michelle shakes her head."No, unless we missed it. That was a lot of stuff to search through."
"What do you think she talked to him about?" Tamara inquires.
"No idea. Michelle, did she have any assignments with him?" I ask, remembering that Aidan is in Slytherin along with Michelle. I mean, they have to share at least some projects together right?
"No, not that I know of." she replies, after giving it a moment of thought.
"The what could it be...?" I say. We here the door squeak open. I quickly shove the planner into the pocket of my robes as Madam Pomfrey walks in.
"It's curfew, girls. Unless you stay for the Christmas break you can't come visit till you're back."
"Okay," I say. "Let's go."
Together, we walk out of the Hospital Wing. I take one last glance at Natalie but she still remains still. This entire year Natalie has been acting kind of off at some point; and it's making me uneasy. Whatever happened to Natalie isn't natural- this isn't the Natalie that I've known for two years. It's like she's a different person. I just hope she wakes up soon and everything can go back to the way it was before. But then again, none of the years I've had at Hogwarts have been anything but normal- so there's really no saying what I should expect to happen next.
"This feels...weird." Michelle comments bluntly as we gather in her living room just like we did the year before. I get where she is coming from though; the room feels strangely empty without Natalie here. Stephen is not helping either. All he's been doing is whine about the lack of rice krispies under the tree for him. That's because Natalie hasn't been able to make them. She honestly hasn't been able to do anything for quite a bit now, and it has pretty much been punching us all in the gut, Joey especially. I can't imagine how he must be feeling right now. It's his first Christmas without Natalie with him and it's bound to put a dent in the holiday spirit.
"WHERE ARE MY RICE KRISPIES?!" Stephen starts to yell causing me to stuff a nearby sock in his mouth.
"Shut up! You're just rubbing salt in the wound don't you get that?! For once in your life could you think about someone other than yourself?! You don't always get what you want and you especially should know that! So shut your face before I shut it for you!" I hiss at him, sending droplets of spit flying at him. Everyone freezes at my sudden outburst- it's official, I've cracked.
The rooms goes completely silent for five entire minutes (yes, I counted) and then that's when Stephen cracks. Only he didn't explode in words like I did, he erupted in a volcano of tears and screams that were enough to shatter yet another fancy vase from the Chang household. Honestly, why they didn't ban him from their house is beyond me. I'm surprised I've even survived all these years with that pesky monster.
Keith was the first one to reach out and try to soothe his cries before they could wake up Melanie. Oh god Melanie; she's the last person I want to deal with right now.
"What happened?" A sleepy Milly asks, as she releases a soft yawn and rubs her heavy eyelids.
"Er, I accidently stepped on Stephen's foot." Keith lies, as he begins to rub the toddler's foot to prove his point.
...really? Really, Keith? Really?
Milly gave him a weird look. "Uh...okay. Want me to get an ice pack or something for him?" She asks, not sounding like she believed what he said but decided to go along with it.
Keith nods and helps Stephen to his feet, as if his foot has actually been permanently damaged. Somehow Stephen seemed to look like he was almost enjoying this. "...I can't move my foot." he says quietly, mocking the pain in his foot. Looking at how dramatic he is making the situation, I can guarantee being an A-list actor isn't in his book of possible careers.
"Don't tell me you're expecting me to carry you..." Keith murmurs quietly at him, seeming the idea of carrying Stephen doesn't match his idea of ideal. Stephen just answers by holding both his arms out, ready to be picked up.
Before shooting the three of us you-owe-me glares, he reluctantly picks up the overweight munchkin with a little heave. "Oh Merlin, how much does this guy weigh?!" He says to himself softly as he carries a now happy looking Stephen away. Well, that certainly was...something.
Why the heck didn't I film all that?! I mentally slap myself and start banging my head against the wall like Natalie used to do. Gosh, everything just goes back to helpless Natalie...
"So...um...should we open presents now?" Michelle exclaims happily, trying to ease the silence back into a proper conversation. Tamara and I both nod in response; eager to make Christmas holly and jolly again. It's going to be hard though, without Natalie here.
We all pass our gifts around, I get a really pretty silver bracelet from Michelle and a batch of homemade brownies from Tamara. For a moment, we almost forgot everything that had happened these past couple of weeks until...the only presents left under the tree were the ones with tags that read Natalie on them.
"So what should we do with them...?" I say breaking the silence.
"Let's just save them for her. " says Tamara "We can give to her when he wakes up."
"Whoa, your car is fancy." I say as I look at the disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Mr. Chang turns on the radio.
I don't want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you, yeah.
Keith starts to sing. I feel like my ears are about to fall out, no offense. It's not my fault that he's tone-deaf. We cover our ears but it's no use. He is just too loud.
"Shut up! You're so loud!" screams Stephen hurting my ears in the process. He starts to sing a bit quieter but he's still really off pitch. This guy needs to take lessons.
I notice that Mr. Chang's eye starts to twitch. "Can you please stop singing? I can't concentrate on the road."
"Sorry..." he says quietly.
'Last Christmas' starts to play. I start to sing and soon Tamara joins in.
"Are you okay with us singing Mr. Chang?" I say politely.
"It's fine as long as you don't disturb me." keeping his eyes on the road.
"Are you saying that I was disturbing you?!" asks Keith.
He stays silent. "How about you kids go in first while I find a parking spot."
We all get out.
"Hey you didn't answer my question!" yells Keith as he drives away.
I silently chuckle.
"Okay, let's just go inside." says Michelle.
We are literally pushed in. I guess that just what happens when you go shopping on Boxing Day. It's the day all the shopping fanatics come out of their cocoons and start to conquer the world. Next to me, is a mother of triplets holding onto a stack of coupons the size of a phone book. How long has she been saving those up?!
"Boys, lets go to Primark first, they have a major sale on onesies." she says, dragging the three teenagers away as the groan audibly.
"Nooo mom!" The triplets whine. With a glare, the boys are silenced. In the background, there's a grown man giving the triplets a look of sympathy. "Honey, get over here! Don't think I forgot about you! Now come over here." She gives him a stern look. Wow...The father groans and drags his feet as he goes to the Primark entrance.
"Dang, they're lucky." Keith complains. Michelle gives him a weird look.
"Why?"
"Hey, don't judge! Onesies are very comfortable, you know." He defends himself.
"...Okay..." Michelle trails off before turning her attention back to us. "So where do you want to go first?"
"Blue Banana!"
"Primark!"
"WHSmith!"
"Okay, how about this. We can separate and we can meet up at Nando's at, say 12?" says Michelle.
"Sure." we all agree.
Melanie and Milly turn left while Michelle and Tamara turn right; now it's just Stephen, Keith and I stand here almost tackled by the people running to Primark for discount onesies..
"So Stephen...want to try on a onesie?" Keith asks awkwardly as he turns to the little boy next to me who is currently sucking his thumb.
"I want food." He tells us bluntly. I look at my little brother in annoyance.
"We ate before we came." I say. "How can you already be hungry?"
"That was a long time ago." he says. "Can we please go eat?"
"Can't you wait till 12?" I reply.
"Just let the little guy eat. I'm actually a bit hungry too." says Keith.
"Fine..." I reply. "Where are we going?"
"McDonalds?" asks Keith. "We don't want to eat to much if we're going to Nando's later."
"Yay! Let's go!" says Stephen happily dragging both of us.
"Can I get a Big Mac?" asks Stephen.
"No." I say.
"Why not...?" Stephen pouts. "I'm really hungry!"
"No and that's final." I say firmly.
"But why not?" Stephen whines tugging on the edge of my shirt.
"One, it's expensive. Two, it has like a billion calories!" I say loudly.
"No it doesn't." he says.
"It's still a lot and I've never seen you exercise!" I reply. "I'll just get you a happy meal."
"Fine...but I'll need more than one."
"More than one?! How can you even eat that much?" I yell. I notice that everyone is beginning to stare.
"I said I'm hungry." says Stephen.
"How about this?" Keith finally cuts in. "We'll get a Big Mac and a Happy Meal. Then we'll share them."
"Okay!" says Stephen happily.
"Finally..." I mumble.
I hear a chuckle. I look up to see Keith looking at me with amusement and something else in his eyes. Something churns my stomach, making me feel uneasy. I have a feeling that it's something not good...
"What?" I manage to get out, trying to recover and sound like normal. A wide smirk appears on his face in return of my efforts to be normal.
"Nothing. You're...unique." He replies, looking thoughtful at the word 'unique'. Unique? I look at him weirdly. What does he mean by that? And why does he have a weird look on his face? Luckily we reach the front of the line.
"Welcome to McDonalds. May I take your order?" says the person at the cashier.
"We'll have one Big Mac Combo, a Happy Meal and an McDouble."
Keith and I split the bill and we're soon sitting at one of the tables. Stephen happily digs through the paper bags and begins to eat. I unwrap my burger as Keith eats the fries from his combo since Stephen currently has his Big Mac.
"AWWW! I got Patrick! I want Gary!" Stephen whines. He pulls out a Patrick figurine, looking at it with a pout. Everyone in the fast food restaurant stares at us. I nudge at Stephen to be quiet.
"Calm down. You'll get him next time." I say.
"There won't be a next time! You never take me to McDonalds!" yells Stephen probably even louder than before. "Plus, they'll change the toy by then!"
I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn around. I see a female employee with a slightly annoyed look but still trying to look friendly. "I'm sorry to interrupt you but, I need to ask you to calm this kid down. He's disturbing the other customers." She tries to ask politely.
"I won't be quiet until I get Gary!" Stephen screeches. The employee winces at the volume.
"You want Gary the Snail right?" The employee asks timidly, acting as if Stephen could explode any minute. Stephen nods quickly with a pout. "I will go check if there's any Garys left. If there is, we can switch the toys." The employee suggests, turning towards the counter.
"YAY!" Stephen squeals in happiness. My left eye twitches in annoyance. How much longer is he going to be like this...? I take a glance at Keith who has a look of amusement but with a small hint of annoyance, looking at Stephen. Soon after, Anne, the employee after finally looking at her nametag, came back with a toy in her hand.
"Here." She sticks holds out the toy for Stephen to take.
"YAY!" he yells. I am absolutely sure that EVERYONE is staring now.
"Stephen, say thank you and try to be quieter." I say.
"Thank you." he says.
"You're welcome." says Anne who then walks off.
Stephen quickly rips open the packaging and takes out the toy. He frowns.
"It doesn't do anything..." He then just pushes it aside and continues to eat the Big Mac.
...Really? All that trouble and he doesn't even play with it for five seconds! He's becoming spoiled...
Keith continues to look amused. He looks over at Stephen. More than half of his burger is gone.
"Stephen, you've eaten more than half of the burger. What am I going to eat?" he asks. Stephen digs through the bag and pulls out some apple slices.
"Here, you can eat these." he says and finishes off the Big Mac.
"That's not enough..." he says probably trying to avoid glaring at him.
"Stephen," I say. "You were supposed to share with Keith. Now he has nothing to eat."
"I gave him the apple slices." he says with an innocent look on his face.
"He needs to eat more than that. Let him finish the rest." I say.
"But, I'm still hungry!" he says, his voice beginning to raise.
"You ate a whole Big Mac and you're still hungry?" I say with disbelief. "How can you still be hungry?"
"I just am." he says.
"Well Keith should be hungrier than you. Let him finish and you'll get more to eat later at Nando's." I say.
"But, I'm really, really hungry!" he yells.
"You're not eating more Stephen." I say firmly.
"But, I'm hungry!" he practically screams.
I notice the Anne begins to head toward us. "I'm sorry, but if you don't get him to quiet down, you'll have to leave."
"I will once I get to eat." says Stephen.
"I'm not going to let you eat more. I didn't want you getting one in the first place." I reply.
"I'm going to scream till you let me eat." says Stephen. He begins to scream.
"Stephen, please stop screaming. You're going to get us kicked out. Then none of us get to eat." I say in what I hope is a calm voice. He ignore us and continues to scream.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave. You're disturbing the other customers." says Anne.
"Look what you did Stephen! You got us kicked out. Let's go." I say pulling on his arm. Keith helps throw away the garbage and puts the leftovers in a take-away bag.
"I'm not leaving!" yells Stephen as he holds onto the chair which is unfortunately drilled into the ground.
"Yes you are! Now let's go." I say pulling him.
"No!" he screams holding onto the chair as if his life depends on it.
"If we don't go soon. They're going to call the police." I say. "Do you want that...? Do you want to go to jail?"
"I'm not old enough to go to jail." he says. Keith finally steps in and manages to pull Stephen off the chair. Stephen continues to scream and kick.
Anne walks us out. Just as we leave I hear her mumble. "I don't get paid enough for this..." as she walks away. If that's what she said, I would agree.
We finally get Stephen to calm down after buying him some ice cream. When we get home I'm going to have to make him exercise...
"So where are we going first?" asks Keith.
"I don't know. Let's go to something we can all go to though." I reply.
"Novatech? I've been wanting to get a phone for a while." he says.
"Sure, maybe Stephen can go play on a Wii to lose all those calories he got from that Big Mac." I say.
Luckily, the line isn't too long. After a short wait we manage to get into the store. The place is crowded with people, mainly teens with parents who want to get the iPhone 5.
We walk over to the phone section and Keith tries a few phones. Stephen instead of playing Wii which I have tried to convince him to play, is playing Angry Birds on one of the sample iPads. From the looks of it, he's getting perfect on every level. He just loves Angry Birds. Especially the red bird. I blame Michael for this. Everytime Stephen passes by anything that is Angry Birds, he asks to get it. Practically everything he owns is Angry Birds now.
"So what phone are you thinking of getting?" I ask Keith who is currently testing a Blackberry.
"This or an iPhone." He replies, still playing with the Blackberry in his hands. Then a thought came to my mind. "Wait a minute, how are you going to pay for it?" I ask. This Blackberry is the latest one.
"Credit card." He smirks at me, holding out a golden American Express card. I gape at him. His parents gave him a credit card!? "They let me use one of their Muggle credit cards for today." He says, shrugging his shoulders as if it's not a big deal.
"High Score!" I hear Stephen yell.
I walk over to him. "Stephen, you have to be quiet or we'll be kicked out. If we get kicked out again I will take away all of your Angry Bird things. Don't think I don't know where you hide them." That silences him. Why didn't I think of using that earlier...?
I turn back to Keith. He's currently playing around with an iPhone 5.
"I think I'll get this one. There's a lot more to do." says Keith.
"Yeah, Blackberries are more for people who work in businesses or text a lot." I reply.
"Get Stephen and I'll meet you in the line." he says.
"Okay." I say and walk over to Stephen.
"Come on, it's time to go." I say, pulling him away from the iPad he's been playing with.
"But I want to get the high score." Stephen pouts.
"You can do that when we get back. Let's go." I say.
"Do we have to?" asks Stephen.
"Yes, and if you don't stop playing I'm taking away your Angry Bird things." I reply with a slight smirk.
"Okay..." he says as he closes the game. I should really say this more often. We meet up with Keith in line. He pays for his iPhone and we leave the store. Keith takes a look at his watch.
"We still have quite a lot of time before 12. So where do you guys want to go?" Keith turns to the both of us.
"McDonalds! I'm hungry!" Stephen pouts. Both Keith and I sigh exasperatedly. "Just wait until 12. We're heading over to Nando's to eat for lunch. Besides, shouldn't Keith here be more hungry than you? You did eat the Big Mac that you guys were supposed to share." I glare at my younger brother.
"I gave him the apples!" Stephen cries defensively.
"Yeah, because you hate apples." I reply. Stephen just glares at me angrily in response. He crosses his arms and has a big sulky pout on his face. I just sigh. I turn to Keith who looks at us with an unreadable expression.
"Sorry. He's such a handful." I apologize.
"No worries." Keith responds, "How about we go to that toy store over there? To cheer him up."
I sigh. "Fine. But I blame you if he has an even bigger tantrum if he wants toys there." I warn him.
"Come on Stephen. Let's go to the toy store!" he says to Stephen. His face immediately brightens and we all walk into Hamleys.
Stephens eyes widen as he looks at the shelves of toys. He probably thinks he's in heaven. He quickly goes to the car section. Oh no...I hope we don't end up buying him one. He already has so many...
"Hey Keith, could you watch Stephen for a while. I need to go buy some things." I say.
"Sure. Just come back a bit before 12 so we can walk over together." he replies.
"Okay." I say. "Bye."
"See ya later." He waves goodbye at me, staring at me for a second before turning his attention back to Stephen. Weird.
Now to do some of my own shopping. There's this sweater at H&M that I want...I just hope it's not sold out. I need to hurry. I pick up my pace, but it's quite hard to do so when you're in the middle of such a huge crowd that knocks down everything in it's way to get to their destination. I try to rush to H&M without knocking down any other shoppers.
I finally make it to the store and go inside. I walk over to the section I last saw the sweater in. Yes! It's 50% off! I quickly pay for it and head towards Forever 21 to see what else is on sale. I take out my phone to see what time is it. Oh, there's still time left before meeting up with Keith and Stephen. Just when I look up, I bump into someone's back.
I'm about to apologize when I look up to see that it's Aidan.
"Oh hi." I say.
"Hi." he replies.
Then I remember Natalie's planner. 'Talk to Aidan'. Maybe I could ask him...
"Could I ask you about something?" I ask.
"Um...sure, I guess." he replies.
"Did you talk to Natalie sometime during the beginning of November?" I ask.
He hesitates. "Why?"
"I saw it in Natalie's planner and was just wondering." I reply.
"Yeah, we did. Sorry, I need to go." says Aidan and then he rushes off. I don't even get to ask my next question. I guess I'll ask when we get back to school. I look at my phone to check the time again. I should probably go back.
We arrive at Nando's just in time. We all sit down and we are given the menu's. After a short while, our orders arrive and we all begin to talk about our mornings. As I eat my Veggie Wrap I notice someone familiar in the corner of my eye. I turn to see Aidan. I think he's with a girl. Wow, the girl is pretty. She has a pair of shining, expressive chocolate coloured eyes. The girl has a bright smile to match. She has waist-length brown hair with dyed orange highlights. Are they dating...? I remember the planner again. Maybe I should go over and ask again. But then again, if they are dating I would be disturbing them. I guess I'll just ask when we get back.
"The lineups were so long." complains Melanie.
"They were okay for us." says Keith.
"Same." says Tamara.
Michelle nudges my side and nods in the direction of Aidan as Melanie continues to complain about her morning.
"Yeah, I know. I saw him earlier too." I whisper.
"Did you ask?" says Michelle.
"He said he did but he left before I could ask what about." I reply.
Just then, dessert arrives. The waiter approaches with many multiple bowls and plates of sweets. I've always wondered how they manage to carry so much at once. I begin to eat my ice cream.
"Should we go over and ask again?" says Michelle.
"Ask what?" says Tamara joining in on the conversation. She turns in the direction we're looking in.
"I don't know." I say. "We can't go over without the others knowing." I'm surprised they haven't even noticed us whispering.
The bill arrives just then. We split it and begin leave the restaurant.
"What are we going to do now?" asks Milly.
"I've still got some shopping to do." says Melanie.
"I'm pretty much done." I say.
"I guess we're splitting up again." says Michelle.
"Where's my toy car!" yells Stephen.
"You must have left it in the restaurant." I say as I look through Stephen's backpack.
Stephen looks like he's about to burst into tears.
"Okay, we'll go back and look for it." I say. "You guys can go ahead."
"Okay then," says Tamara. They all begin walking in different directions as I take Stephen back to Nando's. I see Aidan at the door. He's staring at us with a blank expression. Aidan is holding a trench coat but it's obviously a girl's. He must be waiting for that girl from earlier.
"Just wait a second. I need to talk to someone." I tell Stephen as we walk up to Aidan.
"Hi again." I say.
"Hi." he replies.
"You left so quickly I didn't get to finish asking you." I say. "Could you tell me what you and Natalie talked about?"
He looks down and shifts around uncomfortably. Just then the girl comes back.
"Thanks for holding my coat Aidan." she says taking it from him. "Who's this?"
"Oh, just someone from school." he replies.
"We need to go. We're in a rush. Bye." he says quickly and begins to walk away.
"Bye, nice meeting you." says the girl and walks after him.
"But..." I begin to say. I can just hear the girl say "We're in a rush?" His response is blocked out by the noises of the crowded mall. Is he trying to avoid telling us?
"Can I please stay up till 12?" asks Stephen with his best innocent voice and puppy dog eyes.
"No." I reply. "That's way past your bedtime."
"Pleaseeeeeeeeee?" he says dragging out the 'e'.
"Come on, just let him stay up today." says Michelle.
"Yeah, I agree with her." says Stephen.
"You'll be all cranky in the morning. I don't want to deal with that." I reply.
"I promise I won't." says Stephen. "Do I need to get on my knees?"
"Fine...only today. Come on let's go downstairs." I say reluctantly.
"YAY!" yells Stephen as he runs all the way down the stairs.
The doorbell rings. I wonder who that could be...? Michelle and I quickly run down the stairs and look through the eyehole on the door. We don't see anyone.
"It must be the neighbours again. They just love to prank doorbell us." says Michelle.
We turn to walk towards the living room when the doorbell rings again. We peer through the hole again but no one's there.
"Maybe we can't see them. Do you have an invisible friends?" I ask with a laugh.
"Yeah," she replies sarcastically. "So many I don't remember what they look like."
The doorbell rings again. This time we just open the door. I look down to see a black cat. Beside him is a tray of lasagna. Stephen runs up behind us.
"COOL! It's a cat! Can we keep him?" he asks. The cat immediately jumps into Stephens arms.
"Surprisingly yes." I say.
"Yay!" he yells as he brings the cat into the house.
"How does he know where you live?" I ask.
"I have no idea." replies Michelle. "I wonder what else he knows..."
"Well at least you get free lasagna." I say as I pick up the tray off the ground.
"When are you going to tell Stephen?" asks Michelle.
"I don't know. Probably when your sisters and Keith are asleep." I reply. "Where should I put this?"
"I guess you can just give it to Nellie." says Michelle. "Nellie!"
The Chang family house elf appears. "Yes-mis- I mean Michelle?"
"Can you please bring this lasagna to the kitchen?" asks Michelle.
"Yes." says Nellie as she takes the lasagna from my hands. She disapparates into the kitchen.
"Let's go and see what Tim is up to." I say and we begin to walk into the living room.
We walk in. The fireplace is burning and everyone is sitting around it. We join them.
"Isn't this the cat you thought was bad luck?" asks Keith.
"Oh well, I think we're going to keep him." I reply.
"How are you sure it's a him?" he asks. "Maybe it's a girl cat."
"Maybe..." I say with a smile. "Let's name her Lucy." Tim immediately jumps out of Stephen's lap and jumps into mine. He digs his claws into my skin.
"Okay maybe not. Let's name him Garfield." I say. He purrs at that and jumps back into Stephen's lap. Wait...does he do that on purpose or what...?
"You better make sure that cat is trained. I'm not cleaning up after it." says Melanie.
"I'm pretty sure it is. If it's not it's going to get kicked out of the house." I glare at Tim.
"What are we going to do till midnight?" asks Tamara.
"We could play some games. We have some upstairs." says Milly. "Want me to get them?"
"Sure," says Keith.
Just then, Mr. and Mrs. Chang walk in.
"Where did the lasagna come from?" asks Mrs. Chang.
"Lasagna? Maybe it's Garfield's." says Keith with a laugh. I look at Michelle as we share the inside joke. Tamara seems to see it too.
"Garfield's? What are you talking about?" asks Mr. Chang.
"Jennifer and Stephen's cat." says Milly.
"Cat?" asks Mrs. Chang with a surprised look on her face.
"Yeah...do you mind if he stays here for a while?" I ask. "I'll bring him back to Hogwarts when the break is over."
"As long as he doesn't make a mess. Make sure he stays away from my China case." says Mrs. Chang.
"Okay," I reply. "Did you hear that Garfield? Stay away from the China case." Hopefully he's heard me.
"Why are you acting as if the cat can hear you? Cat's don't understand English." says Melanie.
"This one does." I reply. "He's different from other cats."
Melanie just shrugs it off as if I'm crazy. Oh well.
Soon after that we eat dinner. Surprisingly the lasagna was really good. I need to get him to cook for me more often. Maybe he can become my personal chef or something. I wonder if his rice krispies would be as good as this.
"Can I go play with Garfield?" asks Stephen. "I'm done dinner."
"Okay," I reply. "Be careful, and don't break anything." We don't want another vase incident. The two run off into the next room.
"Let's start playing some of those games." says Michelle. We all walk toward the living when we hear a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass. Don't tell me he broke the vase again...
We all head towards the noise. I look to see that the vase is fine...Then what broke...? Tamara taps my shoulder and points in the opposite direction. I look up.
Tim sits on top of the knocked over China case with an innocent look on his face. Stephen tries to do the same. Oh great, now I have two people in my family who like to break things!
Mr. and Mrs. Chang rush in. Their mouths drop.
"I'm so sorry," I apologize. "I'm just going to get rid of the cat now. Come here Garfield. You're leaving."
Tim immediately sprints out of the room. Stephen follows. I thought Godfathers were supposed to be a good influence! He's not even a good influence in cat form!
"Well it looks like that cat does have some sense." says Melanie.
I apologize again. "Is there anything I can do?"
"It's okay Jennifer. I'll find the spell to fix it." says Mrs. Chang. "It's not your fault..."
"I'm so sorry..." I say again. "I'll just go find that cat and Stephen."
"We'll come with you." says Michelle.
"Yeah," says Tamara.
"I guess we'll stay and try to clean up." says Milly.
The three of us walk out of the room.
"Stephen, Garfield! Come out!" I yell as we walk through the hallways.
I spot a black tail and an Angry Bird plush sticking out from behind one of the bookshelves as we walk into the library. I tell Tamara and Michelle to go around while I begin to sneak up on them from this side. They see me an begin going in the other direction. Luckily, Tamara and Michelle have reached the other side. We close in on them.
"It was an accident. Please don't take my Angry Bird stuff!" says Stephen grabbing the plush from the floor. The cat just has a look of fear on it's face. We continue to walk toward them.
"It was Garfield's fault! Blame him!" yells Stephen.
Garfield, or should I say Tim changes into his human form. Stephen steps back in shock and runs to hide behind me, probably more scared of Tim then getting in trouble.
"T-t-that cat turned into a person!" stutters Stephen.
"That cat is your Godfather." I say.
"Godfather? We don't have a Godfather." says Stephen.
"We do have a Godfather. I just found out. This is Tim Garfield." I say as I step aside so he's no longer behind me. A silence goes around the room as Stephen and Tim stare at each other. There's a lot of tension in the air. As time goes by, Stephen's face starts to get red. Oh no...
"Uhhh...Stephen...?" Tim asks, concerned. Stephen's fists are clenched and he's trembling. Oh shoot.
"You..you..were gone all this time!" yells Stephen as he throws himself at Tim without much effect. He punches and kicks but I don't think it even hurts that much.
"You two really are alike..." says Tim. "Stephen, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you but I couldn't till now. I promise I'll make it up to you."
"P-promise?" he says holding out his pinky.
"Pinky promise." he says holding out his. "After all that though I think I should leave for now."
"But you just..." says Stephen.
"Don't worry, I'll come visit you. At least once a week if I can." says Tim.
"Okay." says Stephen.
"One more thing. You can't tell anyone. No one at all. Only Jennifer, Michelle and Tamara can know. Clear?"
"Yes." he replies.
"Well, I best be off." With that he disapparates out of the house.
I look to the clock. 11:59.
A yawn could be heard beside me. I look down to see Stephen yawning, and rubbing his eyes adorably, to keep himself awake. All of us went downstairs to the living room where the rest of Michelle's family and Keith are. Her parents managed to fix all of the plates by the time we got downstairs.
"So you kids ready for the new year?" Mr. Chang asks with a fatherly smile.
"Yeah!" All of us cheer excitedly, hoping better things would come our way. Like for instance...Natalie waking up. It just feels so empty without her. It's been so long since she woke up. What if she doesn't wake up at all? I try to force those kind of thoughts out of my head. I shouldn't have those kind of thoughts. Natalie will wake up.
takes out her wand and flicks it. An orange light comes out of her wand, forming into a timer. It tells how much time we have left until the year 2013 comes. Currently we have 15 seconds left of 2012. All the things that have happened the past year comes into my head in flashes. We have really had a crazy year, even more so than the one before. But most of it was full of great memories.
00:00:10 seconds left.
"10!"
"9!"
"8!"
"7!"
"6!"
"5!" When we got to 5 seconds, we are shouting even more louder than it was before.
"4!" As we get closer to 2013, we get louder, more excited.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
"I wish the holidays were longer." I say, once we got off the Hogwarts Express.
"Yeah, I don't want to get back to all that work." says Michelle.
"I want to visit Natalie though. We should probably go visit her." says Tamara.
"Yeah, maybe she woke up." I say to lighten the mood.
Together, we walk to the Hospital Wing. We bump into many people and exchange a few words with some of our other friends. Soon, we arrive. We slowly open the door hoping that we see Natalie awake and reading a book or something.
Sadly, our wish doesn't come true. Natalie is still laying on her bed as if she hasn't moved since we last saw her. We walk over to her. She just lays there. Why couldn't she have waken up by now? That would've been a great way to start the new year. I just know she'll wake up but I don't know when. When? The three of us are silent. There's really nothing to say. Just then the door slams open. Brian rushes in, out of breath.
"Irene is missing!"
Sorry we left it at a cliffhanger. You're just going to have to wait a month to see what happens next. Please review, it would be a great present even though Christmas is already over. For editing year 1 we will probably try to continue editing yet as the winter break isn't over yet. So if you can, go back and re-read it. It's going to be a lot longer and it will be fixed quite a bit.
Thanks and sorry again!
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Bye!
~angel-knightx3, michi_pandax3, AquamarineCloverx3, SweetCupcakex3