Chapter 36: December 12 – December 25, 1994, Hogwarts
That Saturday, I woke up to the first snowfall of the season, the entire grounds covered in a blanket of crisp white. I had been so determinedly ignoring all of my terrible feelings from the day before throughout the night that the sight gave me more joy than I thought possible. It wasn't quite the holidays yet, but it certainly felt like it.
I eagerly jumped to my feet and shook Hermione awake, bouncing slightly on my toes. She groaned loudly.
"Maggie, why," she muttered, looking at me and blinking furiously.
"Snow!" I grinned, "Let's go!"
"Oh my lord," Hermione muttered, "Alright, but we wake up everyone else, too."
"Of course!" I laughed. I got dressed rapidly and urged Hermione to do the same, her glaring at me consistently while doing so. I then grabbed her arm and dragged her down to the third-year girl's dorm, knocking happily. A girl opened the door, looked at us, and shouted groggily, "Ginny!" Ginny walked up to us, still dressed in her pajamas, complete with fuzzy slippers.
"Yes?" she muttered irritably.
"Maggie's going on about snow," Hermione sighed.
"Alright, alright," Ginny rolled her eyes at my excited expression and went to get dressed. In a few minutes she came out, looking somewhat more cheerful.
"I am deeply looking forward to waking up the boys," Ginny laughed. We all scampered down the rest of the girl's stairs and back up to the boy's dormitories, reaching the Fourth Years first.
I didn't even knock, but leapt inside, grinning happily. Ginny ran over and pulled the blinds, and Hermione shook her head in amusement in the corner of the room. At the opening of the blinds, all five of the guys groaned, rolling over in their beds.
"Dean, Seamus, you can go back to bed if you wish, but the rest, there's snow!" I cheered happily.
"Maggie, I'm going to bloody murder you," Ron moaned into his pillow.
"Oh cheer up, snow is exciting," Harry laughed.
"I'm going to murder you, too," Ron grumbled. Neville walked over to Ron's bed and basically threw him out of it, making the rest of us laugh.
"Neville, what the bloody hell?" Ron shouted, looking up at Neville in anger. Neville grinned cheekily.
"You heard them, get dressed!" Neville turned to the three of us, "Go wake up the twins."
We nodded and scurried up the stairs to the sixth year boy's dormitory. We crept in quieter this time, and I ran to George's bed (I could only tell the difference because George had a picture of him and me on his nightstand,) and Hermione and Ginny went to Fred's. I grinned, sitting on the side of it, peering down at George eagerly.
He was extremely cute while he slept. I watched him stir sleepily and mumble something I couldn't make out, until he opened his eyes and looked at me tiredly.
"Wh – Maggie!" he squeaked, looking at me in shock.
"Good morning," I squeezed my eyes shut with the width of my smile.
"Bloody hell! Give a bloke some warning!" George muttered, pulling the covers up around his bare chest. I grinned. I could hear Fred swearing at Ginny and Hermione next to me.
"There is snow on the ground outside and I insist on playing in it," I was still beaming like a cartoon character.
"Bloody hell," George repeated, though he was smiling at me. He pulled me in for a kiss and I giggled into it, hearing Ginny and Fred (probably not Hermione) distinctly gag behind me.
"This is inappropriate!" Fred said, "Ginny, cover your eyes! Protect the innocence of the children!"
"Oh bugger off," George stuck his tongue out at Fred while Hermione and I giggled. Ginny rolled her eyes.
"I was possessed by You-Know-Who at age eleven, I have no innocence. Let's go!" Ginny grinned.
"Way to be a buzzkill, Ginny," I stuck my tongue out at her.
"You woke me up at eight o'clock in the morning!" Ginny retorted.
"Don't extend the favor to others," Lee grumbled from his bed.
"Alright, we're getting up. Come on, Freddie," George grunted, "You girls leave. Let us preserve our dignity!"
I laughed out loud but left willingly with Hermione and Ginny, walking back downstairs to the Common Room. I looked outside at the snow and smiled happily; clearly aware I was desperately trying to ignore things that I hadn't yet wrapped my head around
The boys more or less shuffled down in unison, some grumbling (Fred, Ron), some smiling (George, Neville, Harry).
"Maggie, you owe me," Fred groaned.
"Nah," I beamed.
"I second that motion," George laughed.
"You both are wankers," Fred rolled his eyes. We all started heading out of the Common Room.
"Want to see if Elena can make the trip?" Harry asked happily.
I frowned. The last time I had tried to include Elena, I nearly killed her.
"It's not the same anymore, Maggie. You put the fear of God into Malfoy, you know that," George soothed into my ear.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," I nodded, "Let's go then." We changed course as a group, heading to the Hospital Wing.
"I hope she's doing better," Hermione sighed.
"Me too," Harry agreed.
"I'm sure she's making progress. She has so much help," Neville reassured. We reached the Hospital Wing and I knocked softly on the door.
"Just a minute!" my mum called. She came over and opened the door, looking at the sight in amusement.
"May I ask what this is all about?" she smirked.
"Can Elena come and play in the snow with us? It'll do her some good, Mum, please," I begged.
Elena walked over, looking healthier than even the last time I had seen her a few days ago. She looked around at all of us and then at Mum.
"Can I go, Mum? I'll be under their supervision the whole time. Claire can even come, too, and make sure I'm alright," Elena asked.
Mum sighed, "Oh, alright. You've been cooped up in here for ages anyway."
Elena's face broke into a wide smile, "I'll go get dressed and eat something. I'm not ready to go to the Great Hall yet. You guys let Claire know, yeah?"
"Definitely," I beamed, and we all headed down to breakfast again.
"We've got to stop traveling in a pack," Ron grumbled.
"Why aren't you hanging out with Dean and Seamus more, anyway?" Fred questioned.
"How dare you question our traveling methods," George joked.
"I'm affronted," Ginny agreed.
"Simply appalling," Neville shook his head in mock disgust.
"You've come into our lives, questioned our honor," Harry chortled.
"It's so rude, I just, we raised you better than this Ron," Fred shook his head.
"If you must know, I can't tell you. Dean and Seamus are… doing something," Ron sighed.
"Doing something," Hermione repeated skeptically.
"That is literally the least descriptive phrase in the English language," I sighed.
"It could be anything. Have they taken up knitting?" George asked.
"Are they breeding blast-ended skrewts now?" Neville joked.
"Oh my god, they're poisoning the breakfast food," Harry mock-gasped as we sat down at the table.
"Oh shove off you lot," Ron rolled his eyes as he bit a piece of toast vigorously.
"I'm going to go tell Claire," I suggested, giving George a parting kiss and hopping off to the Slytherin table. Claire looked up from her newspaper at me and smiled somewhat.
"What's up, Maggie?" she asked. The rest of the Slytherin table pointedly ignored me.
"Elena is going to come with us to play in the snow. She wants you to come, to make sure she's okay; you know, yet another pair of eyes," I explained, "We're going after breakfast."
"Sounds fun," Claire smirked, "Sure. I'm almost done here so I'll go and get her and bring her down soon. Meet by the lake?"
"Sound good," I smiled, "See you," and I walked back over to the Gryffindor table. Ginny was standing with a blonde girl in Ravenclaw robes.
"Maggie, this is Luna," Ginny beamed, "My friend from my year. Luna, this is Maggie, surely you've heard of her."
"Yes, I have," Luna smiled, "I've seen her around, too." She had a breathy voice, and earrings made of acorns, which was moderately bizarre.
"Good to meet you," I smiled, sitting back down and eating some food.
"Come back over when you're done with breakfast, yeah?" Ginny asked. Luna nodded and skipped back over to the Ravenclaw table.
"Isn't she, you know, Loony?" Ron asked, his mouth filled with food.
"She is a very nice girl, Ron, she's just a little eccentric," Ginny snapped angrily.
"Whom among us isn't eccentric?" Neville laughed.
"Me," Ron claimed.
"Oh that is a filthy lie," George chortled.
"You've been eccentric since before you could walk," Fred agreed.
"We would know, we were there," George rolled his eyes.
"All right," Ron muttered irritably.
"At any rate, I'd appreciate if you were all nice to her, you know, since she used to be one of my best friends, and it's for you lot that she's not," Ginny rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Don't worry, Gin, we'll be perfectly accepting," I nodded.
"We have two Slytherins joining us, our little group can be diverse," Harry laughed.
"Here's to the addition of a Ravenclaw," George held up his glass in a toast.
"Oh god, we're becoming a clique," Hermione groaned, holding her face in her hands.
"One for all," Fred chanted.
"And all for one!" George cheered.
"You guys are dorks," I rolled my eyes.
"But you love me," George hissed in my ear. I beamed up at him happily.
"I do," I grinned. He kissed me, and everyone around us blanched again.
"Oh shove off, you wish you could be this cheesy," George stuck his tongue out at everyone.
"Yes, that's the dream," Neville rolled his eyes.
"To have someone to be cheesy with," Ginny giggled.
"And make everyone around you gag," Harry laughed.
At about that time we all had finished eating, so we got up and started heading down to the grounds. We reached the lake, and I immediately collapsed into the snow, making snow angels happily.
"Who's going to help me with the snow person, then?" Neville laughed.
"I'm in!" Ginny responded cheerfully, and the two of them began rolling up giant balls of snow.
"Hermione, come on, the lake is frozen," Harry urged, "Remember the skate charm you figured out last year?"
"Of course!" Hermione laughed, and the two of them immediately started skating.
"Oi! I want in!" Fred demanded.
"Right," Hermione blushed and she put skates on his shoes as well, and the three of them began skating around each other.
George, meanwhile, had collapsed on the snow next to me. Ron went and decided to help Ginny and Neville with the snow person.
"Having fun?" George asked, grinning. I nodded, sitting up and beaming at him.
"Hi guys!" a voice called out. I looked up to see Luna walking over to us, with none other than Sam Lee.
"Sam? What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise.
"Luna dragged me," Sam muttered.
"Sam and I have been friends for ages!" Luna beamed, "I wanted him to have fun for once and not spend all of his time reading in his room."
"I also practice art," Sam grumbled.
"Yes, and you're getting very good, but you haven't been outside in ages," Luna shook her head, "Is this okay?"
"Yes!" Ginny called from the distance, where she was climbing a tree.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" I asked, laughing.
"Finding the perfect sticks for the arms!" Ginny retorted.
"You're a witch! You have a wand!" George snorted.
"Logic means nothing to me!" Ginny shrieked as she reached out and grabbed two twigs, "Got it!"
"Oooh, ice skating!" Luna gasped, "I'm coming!" Luna also apparently knew how to conjur skates onto trainers; she immediately joined Harry, Fred and Hermione on the lake, skating up to them happily.
Sam grumbled and walked over to the tree and sat below it with a sketchpad, immediately beginning to draw on it.
"Wonder where Elena and Claire are," I asked worriedly.
"Here we are!" an Irish voice called out. Claire and Elena walked over to us, Elena smiling weakly.
"Come on, Elena," I grinned happily, "Let's make a snow dinosaur to eat the snow person!"
"Oh god, again?" Elena laughed.
"Yes, but this time we have wands. It will look real," I beamed.
"I am all for this plan," George grinned.
"Hell, so am I," Claire grinned.
"I guess I'm overruled," Elena rolled her eyes, "Alright."
We all immediately started gathering snow and pilling it up. We shaped it carefully, making sure to sculpt the legs with the utmost care, to allow it to balance.
"I want this authentic," I dictated, "We're talking life sized Allosaurus with the proper posture."
"We're going to need to use magic for it to stay upright, you realize," George grunted, waving his wand to get snow to go up to the head.
"It's worth it!" I laughed.
"I am covered in snow, standing underneath the hypothetical genetalia of an Allosaurus, and trying to magic snow onto its tail," Elena grumbled. It was a very amusing site, though she had color in her cheeks that I hadn't seen in ages, and a smile on her face that seemed genuine.
"I will not apologize for art!" I grinned, walking over to her and waving my wand to help her levitate the snow onto the tail.
"Oh bloody hell," I heard Sam groan from the tree. We all looked at him in surprise.
"Fine, I'll help," Sam got up; rolling his eyes, and walked over. He levitated snow onto the back, neatly putting it in place.
"Why the change in heart, Lee?" George asked.
"My fingers were getting cold," Sam muttered. I burst into peals of laughter and Sam rolled his eyes at me.
Eventually, the masterpiece was complete, and it towered over the snow family that Neville, Ginny, and Ron had made.
"It shall eat the people!" I cackled madly.
"You are terrorizing our snow people!" Neville joked, but he was grinning.
"Is that really how big those things got? Wow," Ron commented.
"This isn't even the biggest predator, there's Giganotosaurus and Spinosaurus and – " but I was cut off by Elena.
"Oh my god you literally are incapable of change," she laughed.
"Oh please give her a break, dinosaurs are awesome," Sam muttered. I looked at him in shock.
"What? I needed to occupy myself as a child. My aunt is boring. I spent the time reading about dinosaurs," Sam shrugged, "You know, Ron, predatory dinosaurs were actually a lot smaller than the biggest dinosaurs. Those were the ones with long necks, the sauropods. They got to be bloody enormous."
"Can we make one of those tomorrow?" Ron laughed.
"Is there… enough snow?" I asked, looking around madly.
"We'll go to the other side of the castle, and all pitch in," George grinned.
"A new masterpiece," I breathed.
"I admit, the challenge is intriguing," Sam paused, looking at me, "Argentinosaurus?"
"Go big or go home," I grinned.
"Is that the biggest dinosaur?" Hermione asked, walking over to us with the other skaters.
"I think so," Harry rolled his eyes, "Is this happening tomorrow, then?"
"You know it," I beamed.
"The crazy things we do with Maggie: a novel, by me," Neville laughed.
"Chapter one: How much snow are we going to need," Fred joked.
"Oh shush, this is going to be brilliant," I laughed as we all walked back into the castle.
Building the Argentinosaurus the next day went surprisingly well; the twelve of us worked together relatively flawlessly, easily delegating jobs and assigning tasks. The thing was life sized and enormous, easily noticeable from all angles of the castle.
McGonagall called me into her office shortly thereafter and had the most torn expression on her face.
"I do not know whether to be unbelievably amused or unbelievably furious," she finally explained, looking at me and shaking her head.
"What? There are no rules against building this sort of thing," I grinned cheekily.
"No, but we're trying to impress our foreign guests! Surely you've seen the increase in Christmas décor?" McGonagall asked.
It was true; the castle looked more gorgeous than I had ever seen it.
"Nothing says Christmas like giant archosaurs," I laughed. McGonagall groaned loudly and waved me away with her hand.
The end of term went by in a flash; the final day saw Elena's triumphant return to her studies in the castle, making us all stand up and clap as she entered the Great Hall. Even Sam and Luna joined in, Sam looking mostly amused with himself for being a part of such shenanigans. Elena, who hated having attention drawn to her, glared at all of us, but rolled her eyes and joined Claire at the table. There was literally no reaction by the rest of the Slytherins, who just ignored them.
"Ignoring is better than literally anything else that could have happened," I cheered joyfully.
Indeed, the week leading up to Christmas also went by rapidly. The only thing anyone talked about was the Ball; not a single person was able to discuss anything else.
"So I asked Luna to the Ball," Ron stated dully. We all looked at him in shock.
"Really?" Ginny asked in amazement.
"Mostly because I haven't got a bloody date, and I reckon she'll be interesting," Ron shrugged.
"Well she'll be delighted, I'm sure she didn't think she would be able to go," Ginny beamed.
"So Fred is going with Hermione, you're going with Luna, you're going with Neville, Harry's going with Cho, I'm going with George," I paused, "That's everyone, right?"
"Claire and Elena can't go, and why would they want to; I guess that leaves… Sam?" Ginny asked hesitantly.
"He's still a loner, Ginny," I frowned, "I doubt he wants to go."
"Are you kidding?" a voice rang out behind me. I turned around to see Sam smirking at me.
"I am decidedly going alone, and I will decidedly be laughing at everyone," Sam rolled his eyes, "Give my antisocial tendencies more credit."
"You're right, I apologize," I smirked.
"I do admit, the Argentinosaurus was fun," Sam paused, "You're alright."
"I seriously am taking this as the highest of praises," I grinned.
"Don't let it go to your head. I'd better go make sure Luna isn't stealing radishes to make earrings out of again," Sam groaned, heading over to his table.
"Luna is a lovely girl, but she is very eccentric," Ginny sighed.
Christmas Day came all too soon, and I woke up in a daze of excitement and nervousness for the upcoming event. I looked to see a moderate pile of presents on the foot of my bed as usual, and grinned happily before reaching for them.
"Oh! I have a gift from Fred!" Hermione gasped. I grinned cheekily at her and she was flushing madly.
"Do you like him?" I asked cheekily. She flushed even more and made mumbling sounds before opening the gift.
"Wow," she breathed, pulling out a book on the history of house-elves, "This is amazing."
"Is it biased?" I asked curiously.
"Dear Hermione," Hermione read aloud, "I recognize this book was written by an English wizard, but I felt like you should read what the other side thinks in a language other than legalese. You know, so you can argue with wankers who don't understand basic personhood. Enjoy, Fred." Hermione was blushing furiously.
"Well then," I grinned, and Hermione buried her face in her pillow as I pulled out my gift from George. When I opened it, I found a necklace inside – it was exceedingly simple, with a small turquoise gem hanging from it.
"Bloody Hell, George," I whispered, "How much did you spend on me? I told you not to spend that much."
Hermione managed to remove herself from the pillow, and gasped, "That's gorgeous."
"I really hope he didn't spend that much," I muttered.
"Well how much did you spend on him?" "Hermione laughed.
"I… erm… may have bought him the Nimbus Two Thousand and Two," I admitted.
"Isn't that also a lot of money?" Hermione grinned.
"Yeah, well, my Dad managed to open a new location in Glasgow, and Mum got a huge raise with her promotion, so my allowance increased dramatically," I mumbled.
"Just appreciate the present. Wear it tonight, it'll go with your dress," Hermione smiled. I blushed furiously and went to open another gift.
"Thanks for the book on animagi, Hermione," I laughed, opening hers next.
"I should say the same to you," Hermione held up the identical book that I had bought her. We both started laughing loudly.
"Well it is the only animagus book I could find that wasn't in the library," I grinned.
"Same!" Hermione beamed.
From Ginny I had gotten a book on advanced bow hunting techniques; from Harry I received a t-shirt with various birds on it; Ron had actually gotten me some toffees and a note saying Thanks for not telling anyone; Neville had gotten me a very large book on reptilian anatomy; my mum and dad had gotten me new arrows for my bow and replacement strings, as well as a polishing kit; Hagrid had gotten me a calendar with different dragons as the pictures; Fred had gotten me kazoos that would play the most annoying melodies all of their own accord; and Elena got me some seeds to grow elaborate flowering plants from the Amazon. Hermione and I then quickly got dressed and headed down the steps to wait for our other friends.
George came down fairly soon and ran to pick me up from the ground, spinning me around happily.
"Oi! Put me down!" I shouted in amazement.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" he laughed in my ear.
"Bloody hell, you're welcome!" I shrieked, "Let me down!"
George squeezed me tightly but then did so, beaming at me happily.
"Your gift was much too nice, by the way," I smirked at him.
"I want to give you pretty things, is this a crime?" George stuck his tongue out at me.
"No, but still," I kissed him softly, "Thank you."
Soon after, Fred came down, and Hermione thanked him for the book shyly.
"Well thank you for the pranking potion ingredients," Fred beamed, and the two began talking to each other about their gifts. I grinned at George, who grinned back at me.
"I honesty did not think that was going to work out for him," he hissed my ear.
"Stranger things have happened," I laughed. Harry and Neville walked down then, as did Ginny.
"Maggie!" Neville called out happily. I looked at him with a smirk.
"Your gift was wonderful, thank you!" Neville gasped, "I already read the first few pages and – just – I think I know how to extract what I need now, thank you! Or at least, I will once I've read the thing."
"Anything to help," I grinned.
"What did you get Neville, then?" George asked, laughing.
"Two books, one a muggle university level textbook on botany, another an introductory book on organic chemistry," I smiled, "So he can extract the compound that causes curse protection in his leaves."
"That's actually a really great present," George chuckled, "I just know if you had got me that I would have thought you were mental."
"Well of course, you and Neville are drastically different people," I rolled my eyes, "Let's go to breakfast."
We spent most of the day enjoying each other's company, playing elaborate games of charades, goofing off in the common room, enjoying the magnificent lunch in the afternoon, and having elaborate snowball fights in the snow. Sam, Luna, Claire, and Elena joined us for that again; the twelve of us then dividing into teams.
"Alright, we need to divide the Weasleys evenly," I stated grimly.
"Oh come on," Ginny whined.
"Definitely not fair if you're not," Harry laughed.
"So there are four Weasleys. Each team, thus, gets two Weasleys. The twins are not on the same team, got it?" I continued.
"Alright, but on that note, Maggie, you can't be on the same team with George," Neville grinned.
"And why ever not?" George asked, looking affronted.
"You will either help your team by being well too coordinated or hinder it by being all… cute," Neville rolled his eyes, "And Maggie can't be on a team with Harry for the same reason that Fred and George can't be on a team."
"So, we have a team definitely of Fred and Maggie, and then one definitely of George and Harry," Elena nodded.
"Well, I would like to be on Ginny's team," Luna smiled, "Just in case there are Wrackspurts, you know. I'm very good at spotting them for her."
"What is a Wrackspurt?" Hermione asked in confusion.
"Let's… not talk about that now," Ginny shook her head madly, "Anyway, alright, Luna and I will be on someone's team, then."
"Here, you guys can be with Harry and me," George offered.
"Hermione, you and Neville can join us," Fred offered.
"I'll go with you guys, too," Ron offered.
"I'll join Luna," Sam insisted.
"Oh no," Elena groaned.
"Don't make us split up," Claire laughed.
"It'll be good for you?" I offered.
"You are both small, mischievous, and quite frankly, nearly as attuned to each other as either of our twin sets," Ginny shook her head, "You gotta split."
"I'll go with Harry," Elena laughed.
"Guess I'm with Fred and Maggie," Claire nodded.
"Great. Everyone, split!" Ginny ordered. The two teams split up, going to either side of the Grounds. We immediately formed a giant snow pile to serve as a fort, which did not take long; we then all crouched down behind the snow.
"Alright," Fred paused, "I know my brother's weaknesses. We have a clear plan."
"What?" Hermione asked, smirking.
"We distract him with Maggie," Fred nodded.
"Oh come on!" I cried.
"It's a foolproof plan. We distract him, we take out one of their most valuable players," Fred shook his head.
"There's still Ginny," Neville pointed out.
"With George taken out, we can all focus our efforts on Ginny," Fred explained.
"Harry?" Ron rolled his eyes.
"Leave Harry to me," Fred stated grimly.
"Watch, Luna is going to become an asset, just wait," I muttered.
"Don't count out Elena, either," Claire insisted. We all looked at her questioningly.
"That girl is fast," Claire shook her head, "She can run faster than anything I've ever seen. It's all your fault," she pointed at me, "For dragging her into the woods and her having to run away from danger all her childhood!"
"Running fast comes in handy in life!" I responded defensively.
"Well, then, Claire, your job is to keep a lookout for the speeding bullet. Everyone has their goals?" Fred asked.
We all nodded. Neville was having trouble holding back giggles.
"Are you ready?" George called from across the field.
"Yes!" Fred answered.
"One!"
"Two!"
"THREE!" both shouted in unison, and everyone charged from around their mounds, gathering up snow and throwing it at each other. I immediately ran to George and danced around him.
"Oh no you don't! You will not distract me!" George shouted, tearing his eyes away from me and running forward. I shrieked in determination and leapt up onto his back, tackling him to the ground.
"Bloody hell!" he shouted into the snow. I laughed happily and smushed snow into his hair.
"Oh my God get off of me!" he groaned in the snow as I sat on top of him, gigging madly.
"I WILL RESCUE YOU!" Harry shouted behind me, and before I could react I was being bombarded with snowballs, forcefully removed from George's back. I shrieked and got up, sprinting away as quickly as I could, practically flying across the snow as I ran a loop around the entire proceeding. I slid in the snow like one of those muggle American baseball players, scooping up a ball of it and turning around to fling it at Harry behind me. He grunted in surprise as I hit him in the face and I laughed, running away to go and join Neville, who was being pelted by Ginny.
"I've got this!" I shouted, grabbing a snowball and throwing it in the back of her head.
"Oh you'll pay for that!" Ginny laughed, and the three of us pelted each other madly, snow flying back and forth.
The snowball fight went on for hours, but eventually we all grew to be absolutely freezing, and the dance was coming up soon. Hermione basically had to drag me away at six o'clock, explaining that we needed to get ready. Ginny followed us, waving goodbye at everyone else, who stayed to continue playing.
"Why in the name of Merlin do I need two hours to get ready?" I grunted in annoyance.
"Because we're going to actually have fun doing girly stuff for once," Hermione insisted.
"Oh this'll be good for you," Ginny giggled.
"I'm going to murder the both of you in your sleep," I moaned. We got up to the dormitories and I struggled to put my dress robes on; they were in brilliantly shimmering turquoise, much like the gem on my new necklace, and they flowed down neatly to my feet. Hermione's robes were in a more periwinkle blue color, and were made of a gossamer material, where as mine was more substantial and thick.
"This thing is impractical," I muttered in annoyance.
"That thing is traditional," Hermione laughed. Ginny then appeared, dressed in robes of bright green, which were somewhat shorter than ours to show her calves. She beamed at us and sat down on my bed.
"Come on, Maggie, I'll do your hair," Ginny offered, pulling out her wand. There was a lot of pulling and twisting and teasing, but eventually it was curled (a feat), and twisted into neat braids on the back of my head that were then tied together in a bun. Some stray hairs fell from it, but it actually enhanced how nice it looked.
"See? Your hair can exist in states other than pony tail or down," Ginny teased. I stuck my tongue out at her.
"What are you doing, then?" I asked.
"Oh just curling it. My hair is so short it's hard to do anything with it," Ginny shrugged. It was true; her hair only went down to just above her shoulders. She sat down, pointing her wand at it, and curling it.
Siobhan, Parvati and Lavender entered at this point, all giggling in their corner of the room and working together on their appearance. Meanwhile, Ginny and I worked together with Hermione to help tame her giant bush of hair, straightening it, basically pouring potions on it, and pulling it up into a high, admittedly gorgeous bun.
"That," Ginny gasped once we had finished, "Is what we call magic."
Hermione beamed at us, "Now, I'm going to do something my parents will not approve of, but I learned it from Madam Pomphrey."
"What?" I asked, chortling. She pointed her wand at her rather beaver-like front teeth, and shrunk them – to what would be considered normal sized.
"Your parents are going to kill you," I laughed, "What about straightening them the muggle way?"
"I don't see anything that needs straightening," Hermione grinned mischievously.
"Are you just taking this opportunity to correct things?" Ginny laughed.
"Just the teeth. Did you see how much work my hair took?" Hermione shook her head.
"I believe I was there for that," Ginny rolled her eyes.
"I dunno, I can't feel my hands," I teased.
"Anyway, no, just took the opportunity to fix my teeth. Ready?" Hermione asked. We all nodded and headed downstairs together, finding the Gryffindor guys all sitting around the fire, milling about. In fact, nearly every member of the house above third year was there, chatting amicably.
Harry turned around to see us and his jaw visibly dropped open. I stuck my tongue out at him in amusement, but both Hermione and Ginny had turned red as tomatoes.
Bloody hell, you two, I thought in amusement.
George got up and ran to me, pulling me into a kiss that surprised me and made my heart flutter madly.
"You look beautiful," he whispered in my ear. I blushed and looked at him. His dress robes seemed a normal, black color; he had on a pinned, turquoise flower as well.
"You look handsome," I countered, trying to not feel too awkward in the clothes and the setting.
"Well, er, Ron and I should go get our dates. See you all later," Harry waved, and the two of them walked out of the common room. Ginny and Neville were deep in discussion about something, and Hermione was laughing with Fred.
Suddenly, coming down from the Gryffindor boy's dormitory, were Seamus and Dean. They were both dressed nicely, but their dress robes matched, which was a bit odd. And then I saw that they were holding each other's hands.
"That's what Ron was talking about!" Hermione gasped.
I grinned at them as they walked over to me, both looking embarrassed and scared.
"Do you think we can pull this off, Maggie?" Dean asked. I nodded eagerly.
"Are you kidding? You two look awesome," I beamed. Seamus flushed horrifically and dragged Dean away, looking horrifically embarrassed.
"How is this not surprising," Fred laughed.
"I get the feeling this evening will be full of surprises," I chuckled.
"We should be heading out, then?" Hermione asked. I nodded and poked Neville in the shoulder. He and Ginny were sitting extremely close to one another, chatting softly, their heads close together.
"Oi! We're going!" I tried to not sound too irritable. Neville laughed and grabbed Ginny's hand, and we all started walking down together.
When we got there, Luna was dressed in bright purple robes, with elaborate jewelry all over. Her pale skin was flushed happily and Ron looked moderately disgruntled.
"Where's Harry?" I asked curiously as we all converged outside of the Great Hall.
"He had to line up with the other Champions. He won't be sitting with us, either; he's got to sit up at the main table," Ron explained.
We all watched as the champions lined up to go inside. At the head of the procession was Effi, accompanied by a tall, muscular boy with a large nose, who I figured was from Durmstrang, as I had never seen him before in my life. Effi looked as uncomfortable as I felt in her orange dress robes. Behind her was Matteo, with a seventh year girl from Hufflepuff I only knew by sight on his arm; she was extremely thin, with dark skin and black hair, usually in an afro, that had been pulled back into a bun, and shorter, white dress robes. Behind him was Angelina, looking beautiful as ever, with her dreadlocks arranged in a very neat plait down her back, and wearing red, poofy dress robes. She was with Lee Jordan, and his hair was actually matching hers, which made me chuckle. And finally, Harry was last in the line, looking awkward; Cho next to him looked extremely pretty, with her long silver dress robes that had elegant sleeves dangling from her hands. Her hair was done up in an elegant bun that neither Hermione nor I would ever have been able to pull off.
Music started somewhere, and the champions and their dates started to process into the Great Hall; the professors followed them, and then the rest of us were allowed to enter, shuffling into the Hall neatly.
"Alright, well, we should get a table then, eh?" George asked. I nodded and we sat down at the closest one we could find. Fred and Hermione, Neville and Ginny, Ron and Luna, and Sam came to sit with us, leaving three empty chairs. Dean and Seamus walked over to fill two of them, both still looking unbelievably nervous. The empty seat next to Sam loomed dangerously.
"Let's all form a prayer circle," Sam rolled his eyes, "For no one to sit in that seat."
Luckily, a Hufflepuff girl grabbed the chair and dragged it to a nearby table, using it to sit with her own friends. Sam looked visibly relaxed, now, looking around at the proceedings in amusement.
"People watching is my past time," he explained when he saw I was watching him.
Meanwhile, Harry had sat up at the top table with Cho, sitting next to Mum and Dad. Dad had a mischievous looking his face, and I knew he was about to mercilessly torture Harry in front of Cho. Bagman was also there, as well as all the professors, Karkaroff, and Maxime. Madame Maxime was actually sitting next to Hagrid, and I hoped that at the very least he was enjoying himself.
Menus appeared in front of us, and up at the front table Dumbledore demonstrated the proper method of ordering food by looking at his menu and then shouting his choice of food at his plate.
Everyone at our table began ordering their food, and I tried to eat my haggis without getting it all over my dress robes.
"Could you have picked a messier food?" Hermione giggled next to me, and I stuck my tongue out at her.
"Aren't you upset about all the extra work for the house-elves?" Neville asked curiously.
Hermione shrugged, and then began chatting with Fred about Quidditch, which was more surprising to me than anything that had happened yet that day. I turned to George myself, not entirely sure what else to do.
"You really do look amazing," George grinned at me.
"As do you," I laughed, "Erm, so, do you like the broom?"
"Haven't had a chance to look into it yet, but it's top of the line, only outstripped by the Firebolt. I really am excited to try it out soon," George beamed, "It's so great, thank you."
"Is it going to be awkward, you and Fred having different brooms?" I laughed.
"We'll make it work," George chuckled, kissing me on the top of the head. I giggled a little and continued to eat. Neville and Ginny nearby were talking about something – I couldn't quite make it out, and frankly, I didn't want to make it out.
You're just upset because Ginny still likes Harry, and you don't want Neville to be taken advantage of, I justified to myself, poking at my food.
But Neville knows that Ginny likes Harry, my brain reminded me, it's hardly taking advantage if he knows the whole situation.
Then why am I so… whatever this is? I thought to myself, now stabbing a piece of meat and forcing it into my mouth angrily.
"You alright, love?" George asked. I nodded, blushing furiously.
"Yeah, just… confused," I admitted.
"Got a mystery to solve?" George grinned.
I looked over at Neville and Ginny chatting about whatever they were chatting about, their faces close together again, and looked back at George quickly, "Something like that."
Soon enough, the eating was over, and the champions were all going out onto the dance floor to dance as the Weird Sisters began playing in the back of the Great Hall. Harry was revolving slowly with Cho Chang, and he looked exceedingly awkward, though I was proud to see he wasn't stepping on Cho's toes. Cho herself looked happily around at everyone, and was often looking at Harry with eyes that made me feel like he was getting seduced or something. We all watched for a while until Dumbledore and McGonagall walked out onto the floor, the two of them dancing and officially opening up the ball to the rest of the guests.
"Come on," George urged eagerly, pulling me out of my chair and onto the dance floor. I put my hands on his shoulders, and he put his on my waist, and we began rotating around slowly, him leading me in a very graceful sort of waltz.
"Learned this with Fred," George explained, "Neville watched too."
"You're kidding," I laughed. Nearby, Fred and Hermione were doing as similar dance, and Neville looked more coordinated than I had ever seen him, elegantly leading Ginny around the dance floor.
"Yeah. He's actually better at it than we are," George blushed, "Don't let on."
I laughed loudly and rested my head on his shoulder, happily closing my eyes as we swayed along the dance floor. Ron, Luna, and Sam were still at the table, and they appeared to be people watching together, all chatting amicably and pointing at certain things. I heard Ron laugh loudly at one point, and I saw that Sam was smirking proudly, as though he had made the joke of the century. After a long while, Dean and Seamus left them and got up to dance, nervously sticking to a corner of the dance floor, Dean spinning the much shorter Seamus around neatly.
Eventually, the song ended, but soon another one started up again. George beamed at me and we kept dancing, and I did enjoy how close I was to George, and how nice it felt to be spinning around with him, and how rough and course his hand was in mine. It was a faster dance, and so George spun me around faster, and I giggled despite myself, slowly growing more accustomed to the dress robes and the atmosphere, though I still didn't particularly like it.
After quite a few songs, I felt exhausted, my feet starting to hurt a little from all the dancing in those pointy shoes.
"Can you get me some punch, George?" I asked, smiling at him and giving him a kiss. He nodded and walked off, me going to sit down next to Sam.
"Enjoying the people watching?" I asked, massaging my foot gently.
"Oh yes," Sam nodded, "Everyone's a blundering buffoon. It's the best."
"I count at least twenty drunk people, and the number's growing," Ron grinned.
"I do love all the icicles, though they could be filled with Vladpurs. You know what those are, right?" Luna asked breathily. We all shook our heads.
"They're small, invisible creatures that live in large quantities of ice, and they make you get cold headaches. It's really quite nasty. We should be watching out for them," Luna explained matter-of-factly.
I looked over at Sam questioningly and he just shook his head, rolling his eyes in amusement. Ron looked positively delighted at the ridiculousness of Luna's claim, however, and the two were now talking about Vladpurs.
"Ron makes it worse by encouraging her," Sam muttered in annoyance.
George returned then, handing me punch and drinking his own. I smiled at him in thanks and we sat down, talking quietly about the dance while drinking our punch.
Eventually we got up and back to dancing, and I still enjoyed it immensely, though now that I was getting tired I was getting a little sillier, and often would just kiss George incessantly on the dance floor. George wasn't complaining, however, and he would kiss me back, in what could only reasonably be called public displays of affection. Hermione and Fred were actually nowhere to be found after a while, which concerned George.
"I just don't know where they would have gone off to," George grunted, spinning me around and then pulling me back to him.
"Oh if you want to find out just go look for him," I laughed, "I don't mind."
"You could come too, you know," George grinned.
I looked pointedly down at my feet and then back up at him. George rolled his eyes but nodded in understanding, giving me a parting kiss and running out of the hall. I walked back to the table to see that Harry was sitting there, chatting with Sam.
"What's up, Harry? Where's Cho?" I asked curiously, sitting next to him.
"Oh lord, I just managed to shake her off," Harry grunted.
"You're kidding," I laughed.
"Nope," Sam shook his head; "Apparently she's got the same number of interesting conversational topics as a flobberworm."
"She's obviously very intelligent, but I have been bored out of my gourd the entire evening," Harry groaned, "It's a nightmare."
"Well, at least you had a date with her and know, now," I reassured.
"Yeah, I suppose," Harry groaned. Ginny and Neville walked over to all of us, Ginny positively beaming and sitting down next to me.
"Oh I'm exhausted, Neville is such a good dancer, I'm so impressed," Ginny grinned. Neville blushed sheepishly, shuffling his feet.
"Where's George? Or Hermione?" Harry asked.
"George is looking for Fred and Hermione. It's okay," I shrugged, though now I was starting to get bored sitting there.
"Well…" Ginny looked at me for a minute, "I could dance with Harry, and Neville could dance with you, if you're bored."
Ginny knew me, and the face I got when I was uninterested with my surroundings, a little too well.
"Oh, all right, if Harry and Neville are cool with it," I rolled my eyes. Harry shrugged, and Neville nodded, and I got up and let Neville take me out to the dance floor, putting his hand on my waist and his other hand in mine. I felt my heart rate speed up exponentially, increasing the amount of confusion settling in my brain a million fold.
"So, having fun?" Neville asked me, smiling down at me. I nodded.
"Yeah, you?"
"Course," Neville paused, "Ginny's great."
"As is George," I agreed, "Do you, erm, like Ginny?" The frogs were back in my throat as I asked the question.
"A bit, yeah," Neville flushed, "I mean, she still fancies Harry, more than me, and I… erm… I fancy someone else more than her, so we might date a little, but we've already agreed its nothing serious, you know?"
It was as though ten thousand Argentinosaurus had been lifted from my chest.
"Oh yeah, I get that," I smiled, "Still, having fun is important."
"That was our thought, yeah," Neville laughed, twirling me around and bringing me back to him before dancing around more. The song turned into a slow one, and I found myself resting my head on his chest – why was he so much bloody taller than me – and hearing his heartbeat. It was going like the galloping of hippogriffs.
Then again, so was mine.
"So, who do you fancy?" I asked teasingly, trying to cover up whatever the hell was going on with me with humor. Neville shook his head, rolling his eyes.
"Come on, Maggie, you know I don't tell people that," Neville chuckled.
"Can you give me a hint?" I grinned cheekily, looking up into his milk chocolate colored eyes.
"Eh, I've fancied her for ages, and she has no bloody clue. But I'm okay with it," Neville paused, "Honestly, at this point, I'm so used to the status quo that changing it would give me a heart attack or something."
I laughed appreciatively, though I was confused. Who could he have fancied for ages?
"How are things with you and George? Better than the last time we talked about it?" Neville asked. I nodded.
"Oh yeah, loads. He's actually been really good about everything," I beamed.
"Oh good," Neville looked visibly relieved. I cocked my head to the side curiously.
"I just… I don't want to see you hurt. I really don't," Neville shrugged, "You're my best mate, and if you get hurt, I get hurt."
I nodded in understanding, "Yeah, so tell Ginny not to hurt you, yeah?"
Neville laughed, "Right." The look in his face was one that was both familiar and not. It made my heart pound even faster than it had been.
I rested my head on his shoulder again, his words ringing in my ears. If you get hurt, I get hurt. The look on his face – it was like the look that George often gave me, and yet somehow more.
The frogs were in my throat again, but now my mind was whirring, moving too fast, going at breakneck speeds. So many thoughts were swimming through my mind that I couldn't pick one of them out of the stream and concentrate on it, or even process it.
"So I think I'm going to apply this one type of extraction technique to the leaves," Neville offered.
"Oh?" I asked, unable to say anything more.
"Yeah, I'm going to use this one method that was described pretty early on, it seems to be a basic technique, though I'm going to need Sprout to help me with all the beakers," Neville continued. I listened to him explain carefully, somewhat squeezing his hand despite myself, unable to not enjoy the look of joy in his eyes as he talked about his plants, and his work, and his breakthroughs.
"What about you? How have things been going in your research to help your Gran?" Neville asked suddenly, pulling me out of my reverie.
"Oh, right," I answered, "Well, I've been finding out more about the unpublished discovery, though its all so covert I feel sort of like a spy," I explained, my heart trying to leap out of my chest, "But the hind limb wings do seem to be legitimate. I want to get my hands on the specimen, but I've been distracted with other things and haven't tried."
"What other things?"
"Just, another project McGonagall has me on," I answered truthfully, "For her own work."
"Ah, how's that going?" Neville beamed down at me.
"Oh fine. We're making progress," I continued honestly. We had gone down now in the family tree to Eocasea, then Seymouria, Diadectes, Brazilosaurus, and Concordia. I was clearly making my way up to the reptiles.
"That's brilliant," Neville smiled, "I'm so proud of you."
I looked at him and smiled, "I'm proud of you, too."
The song drew to a close as we said this, looking at each other. I felt myself flush excessively.
"Erm, I need to go the bathroom," I excused myself hurriedly, running off through the corridors to the toilet. I stood in front of a sink, holding the rim and breathing heavily.
Oh, my god.
My mind was whirring out of control, and I felt myself slide to the floor to sit down. I stared up at the ceiling of the lavatory, completely overwhelmed with everything that had just happened.
All right, Maggie. Make a list. You need a list, or else you're never going to come out of it, I thought to myself, or else you're going to drive yourself mental.
I stared at the door to the bathroom stall and focused on it, trying to slow down my breathing.
One. Neville fancies you, and he's fancied you for ages.
I remembered the valentine second year, and Neville's face when I joked that someone would have to be mental to fancy me. I groaned out loud, hitting myself angrily in the forehead with my palm.
Two. Neville more than fancies you. Neville is in love with you.
The look in his eye whenever we eagerly discussed animals or plants; the way he caught me when I turned into a tiger in Defense Against the Dark Arts; the look on his face when I got back from going into the forest second year; every single way he had ever interacted with me, practically since first year.
Three.
Three was the one I was having the most trouble admitting to myself. I spent a full five minutes trying to get the thought to come through my head.
Three. You fancy… no… you're also in love with Neville.
I groaned again and held my head in my hands. Fighting the basilisk with him in second year and being equally aware of his whereabouts as my own and the snake's; trying desperately to rescue him from Sirius third year despite all logic dictating that I let go; the feeling I got deep in my stomach whenever we talked about plants or animals; the fact that he was the third person I saw dead with the boggart.
Four. The way you love Neville is drastically different than the way you love George.
This was the most heartbreaking of the revelations. I loved Neville much, much, much more than George. I was just too much of a complete, and utter idiot, to have seen it. It was distinctly different. This was an emotion that filled every corner of me, from the tips of my fingers down to my toes, to every single corner of my brain. I hadn't realized it – I hadn't even thought of it – because this feeling, this emotion, it wasn't just something I had added on, like with George; something that grew because I got to know him better, because I had let him in. No, this feeling had come all at once, it had been instantaneous. It had been a part of me from the very moment I met him, probably: an integral part of my soul. I was Maggie Johnson. I loved dragons, birds, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs; I was bloody brilliant at transfiguration; I was angry almost all the time; I belonged outside more than I did inside; I hated being feminine and I was so bisexual it was hilarious; I wanted to change the world; Very little in this world actually scared me; I would stick by my brother to the end; I cared about my friends and family more than I did myself; and I was in love with Neville Longbottom.
I groaned loudly and tried my hardest not to cry.
Now what?
The answer was clear in my head. It was only logical. I would stay with George. I had committed to him, that's what being in a relationship was. And there was nothing wrong with our relationship in the slightest; I did love him, he loved me, and we worked well together.
I nodded determinedly to no one but myself. I loved George. I just realized how I had always felt about Neville. But that changed nothing.
I got up and walked up to the door, but I heard voices on the other side. I listened carefully, not wanting to intrude on anyone else.
"Severus, you cannot pretend this isn't happening!" the cruel, gruff voice of Karkaroff whispered outside the door, as though he did not want to be overheard, "It's been getting clearer and clearer for months. I am becoming seriously concerned, I can't deny it –"
"Then flee," Snape answered him, his voice much louder, "Flee, I will make your excuses. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts."
I heard their footsteps lead away from the door, and I frowned in puzzlement. What was becoming clearer?
I realized I had been in the bathroom for ages. I took a deep breath and opened the door, walking back out into the corridor and back towards the Great Hall. It was getting late, and the dance was winding down. I saw George leaning against the entryway.
"Where have you been?" he asked, smiling.
"Oh, I had to go to the loo," I answered. He frowned at me, however.
"You look like you've been crying," George observed.
"Nah," I shrugged, "Do you want to dance one more time?"
"Not particularly," George paused, "Guess where Fred was?"
"Where?"
"Snogging with Hermione. Hermione! They were snogging! And enjoying themselves!" George laughed.
"You're kidding," I grinned, "Well, I'm happy for them."
"Me too, but Merlin, I was not prepared to see that. Anyway, I can take you back to the Common Room if you want."
"Thanks George," I smiled and gave him a kiss.
The one flaw in my plan was that I had to act like absolutely nothing was different.
AN: Hey guys, I'm really happy to be back, but I'd appreciate if you all reviewed! Thanks!