Chapter 27: Bringing Hogsmeade to Hogwarts
Lexie was eating breakfast in the Great Hall alone, she had been too hungry to wait for James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter to make their way to the common room as they tended to sleep in on weekends and were often late getting up. She looked up when she heard their excited voices enter the Great Hall and greeted them all when they took seats around her.
"So, Lex, first Hogsmeade trip, you excited?" asked Sirius scooping some eggs onto his toast.
Lexie knew this question was coming and she had been dreading it ever since she had received the permission form over the summer which remained unsigned at the bottom of her trunk.
Hogsmeade, the magical village all the third years couldn't stop talking about, the village you need a parent to sign off on going. A parent she didn't have. She had secretly hoped due to her own selfishness that one of the boys would have forgotten to get their form signed, but she had realized at the first announcement about the upcoming trip that everyone in her year had the luxury of having a parent or guardian to sign the form and she would be the only one left behind at the castle.
Sirius was still waiting for an answer when she looked up, "I don't think I'll be going, but you boys have fun," she tried to inject as much cheer into her voice as possible but clearly, she hadn't fooled any of them when they all looked at her with a frown.
"What do you mean you aren't going?" asked Peter, "Don't you want to go to Honeydukes?"
"What's a honeydukes?" Lexie couldn't help asking.
"Not a honeydukes, just Honeydukes, it's a sweet shop and like Peter said, what do you mean you aren't going," James interrupted with a shocked expression.
Lexie sighed, "I didn't get my form signed, I can't go."
"What?!" all four boys exclaimed.
"What do you mean you didn't get it signed? Even my parents signed mine and they don't even like me!" said Sirius.
"Well, you all know by now I don't really have parents like you do, right? I mean not traditional ones," she said uncomfortably, "So urm, I just didn't get it signed since I sort of spent the summer with family friends remember?"
She saw them all flinch a little, they had forgotten the end of last term that she hadn't gone home that summer and recalled her excitement to be with people she had called family friends. While they had all learned over the years that Lexie didn't have parents, at least none she lived with, it never occurred until now that whoever needed to sign the form wasn't the person, she had spent the summer with.
It was a topic that was rarely brought up since they had all determined a long time ago Lexie didn't like to talk about her homelife and all they knew was she was cared for by someone called Mrs. Tobias and had what she had referred to as brothers.
Between the four of them they had deduced that Lexie must have lived in a foster home or similar situation, but they never brought it up figuring it was like Remus' furry little problem and made her uncomfortable and they wouldn't force her to talk about it if she didn't want to. Which unfortunately seemed to be an inevitable topic now with Hogsmeade.
Lexie saw their flinch and shared glances, "Look it's okay really, I mean maybe next year, right? It's not a big deal, really."
"Well at least we can bring you back some sweets and maybe a butterbeer right boys?" said Sirius trying to cheer her up a little.
"Of course," answered James.
Lexie smiled wistfully and stood up to leave, "You really don't have to do that, it's okay really, I might just go to the library anyways. I'll see you tonight, okay? Have fun, you can tell me all about it when you get back."
The four boys watched Lexie leave the Great Hall, they could tell she had tried to put on a happy front, but it wasn't fooling them.
Remus was the first to speak, "I feel terrible. How did we not realize she wouldn't be going?"
"Ugh, I know," replied Sirius shaking his head, "I can't believe I even brought it up. I can't believe I didn't put two and two together."
"Well, this just means we need to do something extra special to make up for it," declared James, "If Lexie can't go to Hogsmeade we are going to bring Hogsmeade to Lexie!"
"Hear, hear!" the other three called out.
Lexie was still hiding out in the library as the sun started to set, she knew everyone had probably been back for a while but couldn't bear to be such a downer after she was sure had been a great day. She figured she would head back right at curfew with the hope of sneaking back into the dorm since the common room was often full once the rest of the castle was deemed off limits.
Lexie didn't even have to wait until curfew though when Remus found her, he took one look at her pile of completed essays and whistled startling her, "Wow, someone was busy today, have you managed to finish all your assignments for the whole term?"
Lexie looked up and couldn't help sending a smile towards Remus, she was secretly glad he had found her despite her earlier plans, "It feels that way, doesn't it? Is it just me or is this year already way harder than the other two combined?"
Remus sat down next to her, "It does feel like the professors are torturing us, doesn't it? I hate to imagine what fifth year is going to be like with our OWLs."
Lexie grimaced making Remus laugh, she had already seen many fifth-year students enter the library looking worn down by the coursework and stressed about their OWLs and was not looking forward to it.
"So, I assume you are here for a reason? Let me guess, two black haired pranksters sent you here to collect me so they can shower me with gifts I told them not to buy."
Remus smiled, "Except you are missing the part where the most problematic prankster has brown hair."
Lexie gasped dramatically, "Remus! I had no idea you had it in you to cause such mayhem. Do tell, what is your inspiration for so many brilliant pranks, please share your secret?"
Remus laughed, "You know I'm talking about you Lexie."
Lexie grinned, "Oh Remie, you flatter me. So, am I at least half right then? That no matter what I said this morning James and Sirius went way overboard and bought up all of Hogsmeade in one day?"
Remus snorted, "Of course, you should know those two don't know the meaning of moderation. Just pretend to be shocked and awed and whatever you do, don't eat the small chocolates that look like really large raisins unless you fancy cockroaches."
Lexie shot Remus a disgusted face as she gathered up her supplies making him laugh. The two friends headed back to the Gryffindor common room.
Lexie was the first to enter and immediately halted in her tracks and her jaw dropped when she saw what the common room had been transformed into. Each corner of the common room had been transformed and banners hung above each area.
In one corner all the tables and chairs had been pushed to make up just a few rows with chairs acting as barstools, a few cases of glass bottles sat on each table and some other students were sitting with already conversing amongst themselves. A sign above their heads read "The Three Broomsticks."
In another corner, the loudest one by far, students were laughing as they played with trick cards, and sent colorful smoke into the air. A banner above read "Zonko's Joke Shop"
The third corner was piled high with so many sweets and a banner read "Honeydukes." The center of the room was full of fellow Gryffindors.
In the last corner stood James, Sirius, and Peter with huge grins and above their head read the final banner "Welcome to Hogsmeade." Lexie laughed and worked her way through the hoards of students with Remus until she reached them, she shook her head with a huge smile on her face, "You are all completely ridiculous and way over the top, this is just-" she found herself without words.
James smiled and reached out to squeeze her shoulder, "Come on Lexie, you should know us by now."
Lexie shook her head still looking around in awe, "I don't even know how you did this," she laughed, "and here I thought going overboard meant a couple bags of sweets."
Sirius smiled, "Well to be fair we did have help, once we told some fellow Gryffindors the plan they were happy to chip in and help. Plus, this way everyone gets to have a good time even those too young to go."
Peter chipped in, "We told them we were having a Hogsmeade themed party. After that it sort of spiraled into this."
Lexie looked around again in awe, it was definitely a party, everyone from first years to seventh years were present and she even recognized the Gryffindor prefects amongst their friends enjoying the many items that had been brought back.
The rest of the night was spent with Sirius and James dragging Lexie around to the various "shops" as they filled her arms with sweets from their version of Honeydukes, tricks for pranking from Zonko's, and ended with her seated in their makeshift pub drinking butterbeer for the first time with rosy cheeks and a grin that hadn't disappeared once since she had stepped foot inside the common room.
When the night ended with Professor McGonagall shooing everyone off to bed well past midnight, the boys all grinned in their dormitory when James declared "Well I'd say we achieved our mission"
"Hear! Hear!" The other three chanted as they all remembered the sheer joy and appreciation in Lexie's eyes when she giggled her way up to her dormitory full of sugar and blackened fingers from countless games of Exploding Snap.