Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and I do not.

The Firebolt

When the friends arrived back in the Common Room, Fred and George decided to let off six Dungbombs at once in a celebration of Christmas. The smell from the bombs was overpowering the entire Common Room. Ella's watered and there was no way to get the smell out of her nose.

"Why did you do that?" She choked out to them.

George was coughing hard, "I dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the time!" Fred nodded with his brother. The moment they had nearly an hour ago was long gone. It was almost as if it never happened –almost. Ella found her eyes wandering to look at Fred more often than they had before, but it didn't mean anything. They were still two friends that just…well; Ella wasn't even sure what had nearly happened. For a moment, Ella thought Fred was going to kiss her, but he didn't. She knew he wouldn't have. Her feelings towards him just got her worked up. She probably imagined half of it.

The older students spent the better part of an hour figuring out a spell to remove the Dungbombs from the Common Room. Many people retreated to their dormitories instead of braving it. Percy yelled until his voice was hoarse at the twins for doing something so stupid. Neither brother seemed to really care what Percy thought though.

As the twins crawled into their beds in their dormitory that night George turned to Fred asking, "So what happened with you and Ella today?"

Fred shrugged blushing, "I'm not sure, but I just felt like kissing her."

"You didn't!"

"You're right, I didn't," Fred responded and George deflated.

George grumbled, "Why not? You weren't scared were you?"

"No! She just, well, she stopped it from happening. I took too long to lean in and make it happen. She pretty much came to her senses and suggested we got back to the group. After that the mood seemed sort of…ruined," Fred described to his twin.

He sighed, "Well, what are you going to do now?"

Fred thought for a moment, "I don't really know. I kind of want to ask her to be my girlfriend."

"When?"

"After break?"

"Why?"

"Because it seems cruel to do it tomorrow then force her to go over a month without seeing me!"

"Oh," George said, "that actually makes a lot of sense."

Fred huffed, "Of course if does, I thought of it!"

"You're pretty daft sometimes, mate."

"Hey!"

"Would you two shut up?" Lee called out and the twins burst out laughing before turning in for the night.

In the morning, Ella got up and went down to breakfast. She took her time eating the mouthwatering food and savoring the castle at Christmas time. There'd be no fantastic Christmas dinner this year. She wouldn't be getting her presents until after break either, so no gift giving on the actual Christmas Day. Ella figured it'd be a miracle if her parents even acknowledged her presence at all. They'd have to at their Christmas Eve dinner, but once they were home it'd be only Ella for the rest of break.

With a sigh, she dragged herself back to Gryffindor tower and brought her trunk down. If her parents were capable of happiness, they'd be over-joyed that she was leaving Rowena's cage at school instead of taking it with her. She stood in the Common Room with Katie and they waited for their other friends to come down to join them. They'd all pick up a quick bite to eat before hopping on the train.

Ella couldn't help but feel heavy hearted as they pulled their things to the station. All of her friends picked up on her downcast spirit right away. Fred and George dedicated the entire trip home to a complete and total comedy show. They went all out to try and keep everyone laughing the whole time. When the Hogwarts Express finally pulled up to Kings Cross station, both the twins were exhausted and she was extremely grateful for having such wonderful friends. Ella followed them off and onto the platform where Mrs. Weasley was smiling and waving her children over.

"Oh, I've missed you all so much!" Mrs. Weasley gushed giving each of them a hug and kiss on the cheek. Ella smiled at her mother figure. "Thank you for the letters, Ella. It was wonderful to hear from you."

She blushed slightly, "It was no problem, really. I love writing letters to you and getting a response back."

"C'mon you lot, time to get back to the Muggle World," Mrs. Weasley told her children leading them through the barrier. She kept a hand on Ella's back until they reached outside of the station. There was a light snow falling and both Ella's parents were standing beside a car. Their lab coats were just visible under their coats.

The Weasleys tensed slightly as they always did when seeing Ella's estranged parents. Ella saw Mrs. Weasley's smile falter out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't blame her. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Worthington was smiling. They stood with disinterested expressions, and Ella was able to trace faint lines of disgust in their faces directed towards the Weasleys.

Mr. Worthington drawled, "Come along, Ella, we've got to be back to the lab in an hour."

"See you," Ella whispered to the twins. Then she went into the back of the car. She watched them through the window until they disappeared. Part of her felt like crying, but she beat it back. Ella was stronger than that, and she would remain stronger than that during her stay with her parents.

For the first four or five days, Ella was stuck at home by herself. She watched some television but found it awfully boring compared to Hogwarts. She made her own food and worked on her homework in her room. Ella didn't dare venture past her door when she had her homework out. She was too frightened that it may get destroyed if her parents were to come home early like they did over the summer.

The one thing that Ella found was perfect about spending time at her house now was that she could transform into her fox form with the Trace picking it up. Sirius said he used to walk to a dog park in Muggle London when he was younger and transform to be a dog. Part of him had wanted to be caught doing this so he could stir up more trouble for his family, but because it's wandless magic and extremely complex it's unidentifiable.

Ella would trot around the house in her fox form and roll around in the snow that had piled up in her backyard. She didn't even have to worry about neighbors calling animal control because of the tall fence they had blocking her from view.

On Christmas Eve, Ella's parents were home the entire day to get ready for the party at seven that night. Ella was told that she needed to look professional like her parents would be. She looked through the Muggle clothes in her closet and found an outfit her parents bought her years ago for secondary school. They wanted her to look nice and professional at her first ever science fair, but Ella figured that this was the only time she'd ever wear it. Hogwarts didn't have science fairs.

At six-thirty, Ella looked at her appearance in her room's floor length mirror. She was in a black pencil skirt that stopped at her knees and a lacy white sweater with a teal camisole underneath. Ella couldn't help but feel distinguished as she added a pair of small heels. Had she been a Muggle and grown into a Muggle job, she would've had no trouble fitting into the professional world.

The ride there was chilly; Ella had decided to use her lighter, dressier coat. More than that, her parents were extremely distant and cold towards her. Their coworker's house had to have been no more than seven miles out from their house, but Ella thought the car ride lasted much too long.

Before leaving, Ella had been briefed about the setting she would be walking into. There'd be three different families there. The person they were meeting was a benefactor of a high-end research facility, and he was considering donations to their research and another family's business. They hadn't been informed much about their other guests, but Ella was to be polite nonetheless. Ella certainly looked the part of genius, courteous daughter, but no matter how she looked, she couldn't help but resent everything about this outing. She hated the idea of the social hour, then the meal, and ending the night with more socializing. Ella would rather take care of Hagrid's flobberworms than spend several hours smiling and nodding at snobs who she wouldn't relate to in the slightest.

"Ah, Timothy, Emily, there you are. It's so good to see the both of you."

A severe man said opening the door to her family. Her father and the man shook hands before he turned to her mother and gave her a peck on the cheek. He was a tall man with a balding head of grey hair and serious expression. Ella could see why her parents would want to impress him; he looked as boring and solemn as they always were. The man's wife was equally uptight and pompous as her husband. Ella wondered if Percy could even stomach these people, but he did enjoy business people so he'd be better off than Ella.

"Hello, Maxwell, this is our daughter Ella," her father stated gesturing towards her.

Maxwell extended a hand, "Pleased to meet you my dear. You seem like a lovely young woman, almost as lovely as your mother."

Ella took the hand and stated politely, "Thank you, sir, but the pleasure is all mine with meeting such a distinguished man."

The man smiled proudly, "Well, come now and meet my other guests for this evening. I'm sure you'll all get along swimmingly." He led them into a large sitting room and introduced, "Timothy and Emily, I'd like you to meet Vernon and Petunia Dursley along with their son Dudley."

Ella's father shook hands with a beefy man that Ella had seen in countless visions. These people were Harry's guardians –the ones that hated him for being magic. The Dursleys were the equivalent of Ella's parents when it came to Muggles.

"Pleased to meet you, Vernon and Petunia. My name is Timothy Worthington. This is my wife Emily, and my daughter Ella," Mr. Worthington told the man.

Vernon smiled to him, "Yes, yes, very nice to make your acquaintance. If I could be so bold, you seem like my kind of man, no nonsense whatsoever. A man of science and sense."

Her parents smiled pleased and began talking to each other about their jobs and daily lives. Ella turned to Dudley. He was bigger than she'd imagined and they were the only two that were their age. She didn't like the idea that they'd most likely be stuck together all night. How Harry dealt with him during the year was beyond her. A terrible thought struck Ella's mind, but by Fred and George's standards it'd be absolutely brilliant. After all, she did know for a fact that this boy hated magic and was dreadful to Harry.

"Hello," she said sweetly to him.

Dudley glanced in her direction, but ignored her. He instead moved over to a couch and sat his ginormous bottom on it. Ella moved to be across from him in a chair. She forced the smile to remain on her face.

"So, are you an only child then?" Ella questioned as though she only wanted to make conversation.

"Yes," Dudley replied bored.

Ella cocked her head slightly to the side, "No one else your age lives with you?"

"No."

"Are you certain?"

The boy looked over at her suspiciously, "What do you know about that? We just met a few moments ago." Ella didn't have time to respond because they decided to go through with dinner sooner than planned.

Ella sat beside Dudley during dinner with the hosts across from her. The Dursleys and her parents sat down the table across from each other. Apparently, they'd hit it off extremely well since neither of them tolerate abnormality. Dudley had never had time to talk to his parents about Ella's statement earlier. Ella kept smiling sweetly at him as he grew more and more uneasy.

A butler served the four course meal to them, but Ella felt like it'd never live up to the expectation of a Hogwarts Christmas meal. Granted, maybe since it was Christmas Eve, the cook decided not to go all out. Ella assumed House Elves probably had better cooking skills than most Muggles anyway. Ella became more than a little dispirited at the idea that the Weasleys would all be having Mrs. Weasley's wonderful dinners while she was stuck here with the Dursleys.

"So Timothy, where did you say Ella went to school again?" Maxwell asked with a kind smile towards her.

Her father told him their well-rehearsed story, "She goes to a school in Ireland. It a special school for academically gifted students."

Vernon Dursley nodded his approval, "So are you going to go in your parents' footsteps then, Ella? Become a scientist and innovate the future for us all."

Ella smiled, "Actually, as much as I adore science, I was thinking of possibly going into government or law enforcement." It wasn't a lie, Ella had been thinking about getting a job in one of the Ministry's departments or maybe even being an Auror.

"Well now, what's a fine boy like Dudley looking into?" Mrs. Worthington asked eager to get the subject off of Ella. She obviously didn't want Ella to make a slip of any kind. Ella noticed that all the adults were consuming an alarming amount of wine and spirits. She'd never seen her parents drink so much before, but if everyone else was doing it, why wouldn't her parents?

Petunia gave a very horsey smile before proclaiming, "Dudley doesn't know what he'd like to go into, but he'll surely do a fine job with whatever it is."

Before Ella could stop herself she blurted, "And does Harry know what he's going into?" The Dursley family looked at her in shock.

Vernon spluttered, "How did you know about our nephew?"

"I go to the same school as he does," Ella said. She couldn't help but grin slightly at the purple color Vernon's face was turning.

"That's not possible. He goes to St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys!" Petunia cried indignantly.

Turning to Maxwell, Vernon Dursely explained, "My nephew, Harry, he's a very troubled boy. We've been taking care of him as best we could, but types like his are, well, incurable. He's just an abnormal and troubled child. Both of his parents were killed in a car crash when he was one." Ella's hands clenched into fists as anger boiled in her stomach.

Ella's mother turned to her saying, "You must have thought it was someone else, dear."

"Yes, she must have. A nice, normal little girl like Ella certainly wouldn't be involved in our nephew's crowd. Horrid, the lot of them." Vernon Dursley told their guests.

Maxwell's wife turned to him and said, "You mustn't blame yourselves. Wonderfully normal people like your family aren't to be blamed with how he turned out."

"Horrid?" Ella questioned her voice low and dangerous. "And what makes these people so horrid? I think that people like Harry are wonderful. We're a lot better than people like you. We're accepting of those who are different."

"Ella, be quiet," her mother snapped.

"I'm so sorry about our daughter's behavior. She's been a bit rebellious ever since she went to that school. I think her aunt may be having a bad influence on her. She was always a wild child," her father explained to the others. Ella wondered if any of these people realized both of her parents had no siblings.

Vernon shook his head good-naturedly, "I don't mind, we get the same thing from our nephew, no offense of course."

Maxwell nodded, "It's fine, honestly. Sometimes children just go a wrong way. They're influenced by the wrong people and things they see. You can't blame yourself for your nephew or daughter. You're all delightful people; a little misfortune comes to all of us."

"Thank you, sir," Timothy Worthington said politely.

Petunia Dursley turned to Ella's mother trilling, "You and Timothy must come over for dinner sometime. It'd certainly be a delightful endeavor, and we could have it sometime when Ella and our nephew are both in school."

"What a wonderful idea," Emily told her.

Vernon and Mr. Worthington were currently discussing their dislike for abnormality with Maxwell. The three men were peas in a pod with their love of uniformity. Ella glanced at Dudley who was ignoring everything aside from his food. The people in the room were acting as though Ella didn't even exist.

She stood so suddenly that the scraping chair echoed for several seconds, "What is wrong with you people?"

"Sit down Ella!" Her mother snapped with barely concealed anger.

"No, I'm sick of this. I'm sick of pretending to belong or that this is a happy normal family. I despise normal; I hate it with every fiber of my being. I've never been normal and I'm proud of that fact. Now I'm being forced to act like the perfect daughter to the perfect set of parents when we all know I'm just one big disappointment to you both. But I'm so glad, so very glad that I disappoint you because never in a hundred years would I want to be like you both.

"I would never give up my only child for a job or dislike her for being a little different. I could never be like them either." Ella wheeled on the Dursleys, "They hate abnormality and imagination too. There's magic all around us in this world; it's beautiful and wondrous –a spark that makes life more radiant than the sun, but you can't see that. It's beyond me how that's possible, but I suppose that you lot weren't meant for it. You'll talk about my lot being horrid, well I can't stand your lot, and it's about time that I stand up for myself instead of letting people like you trample all over me." Ella shouted at the guests in the anger that had been simmering inside her for four years now, maybe even her entire life.

Mr. Worthington looked at her sternly and reprimanded, "Sit down now, for god's sake. That's an extremely impolite outburst and we raised you better than that."

Her teeth clenched and in a biting tone she hissed, "Oh yes, I'm so very sorry about my little outburst. It's just a tad bit hot in here. I think I'll go get some air. Sorry again and have an evening as lovely as yourselves in my absence."

Before anyone could say anything more, Ella darted from the room and found her way outside. It was freezing and snow was slowly falling from the sky, but Ella didn't even pay attention to the beautiful sight. She paced back and forth taking deep, calming breaths of the frosted air to calm herself down. There was no way she could go back in there. Ella couldn't even imagine staying any longer with her parents during the holidays. They'd be positively livid about the outburst she'd had. She only saw one choice in her mind. Ella transformed into her Animagus form in front of the house and was glad that she was a bit warmer like that. Her skirt and thin sweater had done nothing to protect her from the elements, but fur was much warmer.

It took the better part of an hour for Ella to arrive at her house. She was afraid that her parents would leave to find her then beat her to the house or that she'd get lost, but neither happened. When she entered the place she'd lived for most of her life she paced once more trying to come up with a plan, but all she could hear was horrid lot echoing in her head again and again.

"Shut up!" Ella yelled to the voice inside her head. A shatter came from behind her. Ella turned around to see she'd broken a mirror and cracked every picture frame in the house –which wasn't many. Each picture had a different fissure in it, but they all were separating Ella from her parents. How fitting.

She finally gathered her thoughts and came up with a halfway decent plan. Rushing up the stairs she grabbed her trunk and pulled out her wand. The snow was coming down harder now when she came back outside. Ella's parents still hadn't returned from the party, and she was beginning to realize that her running away would probably be a blessing for them. Nonetheless, she still left a note sitting on their counter top.

Dear Timothy and Emily,

I'm leaving for the sake of both of us since you don't want me here during the holidays and I don't want to be here. I hope your dinner went better after I left and all the best with your business venture. I'll be staying with people who actually care about my wellbeing and me in general for the rest of break. See you in the summer.

Ella.

Without looking back at her house, Ella pulled out her wand arm and held it like she believed would summon the Knight Bus. She was still dressed in her Muggle attire and freezing cold, but by some stroke of luck the Knight Bus appeared in front of her.

A boy who wasn't much older than Percy stepped out of the bus reciting, "Welcome to the Knight Bus, an aid for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand arm and we'll take you where you need to go. My name is Stan Shunpike and I'll be your conductor for this evening." He looked around taking in his surroundings. "This is the second time we've been 'ere this year."

"I know, I saw you the first time you came. That's how I knew about this," Ella explained to him.

"If 'choo saw 'Arry, why didn' you help him?" Stan questioned her.

Ella found the boy annoying, "What help would an underage witch be to an underage wizard? He already flagged down the Knight Bus, what'd he need me for?"

Stan thought a moment, "Right, well, get on then." He heaved her trunk up, which wasn't nearly as heavy since a lot of her things stayed at Hogwarts during the break. "Where you 'eaded?"

"St. Ottery Church Catchpole, thanks. Just center of the town, I can make it on my own the rest of the way," Ella told him as he sat her at a bed.

"That'll be ten Sickles please," he said and she coughed up the money. The car shot off and Ella watched the towns and cities blur past the windows. A short while after, Stan Shunpike returned with a cup of hot chocolate.

"I didn't order this, I can't afford it," Ella stated sadly. She wished she could have the warm drink. She was frozen to the bone from spending so much time outside.

The boy shook his head and argued, "It's on the 'ouse. We don' need someone dying of cold on our bus –bad business."

She took the drink and mumbled, "Thank you." Shortly after, the Knight Bus let Ella off in the center of St. Ottery Church Catchpole and disappeared with a bang. Ella took her trunk and began walking down a street that would take her to the Burrow. It'd be at least twenty minutes before she arrived, but she needed time to figure out what she was going to tell Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. The events of the night were finally catching up to her. How could she just leave like that? What if the Weasleys were angry that she came to the Burrow? She had said she couldn't after all, it would be rude to come in unexpected now.

A church bell chimed in the distance and Ella knew it had to be extremely late. They were probably asleep, and she would spend all night sitting on their doorstep only to freeze to death. Ella shook her head. It was too late to turn back now, Ella didn't have the money to even consider the idea let alone actually return home. Besides, she couldn't go back. The outburst was still fresh in their minds, they'd be livid. She'd probably be shipped to China before anyone would hear differently. Ella would never be allowed back to Hogwarts –she'd disappear and all of her friends would never know why.

"I'm not thinking rationally, my brain must have lost all function without the warmth," Ella thought to herself with a shiver. It wasn't long after that the outline of the Burrow could be spotted against the dark sky. Ella felt ready to cry –with relief and exhaustion. She made it to the house and saw a light was still on through a downstairs window.

Her hand rose to the door and after taking a deep breath, she knocked. For a moment, there was only silence. Then, the sound of feet came from behind the door. Ella tried to not feel nervous about showing up like this.

"Ella!" Mrs. Weasley cried out in shock at seeing her. "Come in, get inside the house!" The woman pulled her in along with her case and looked her over in her skirt and heels that had caused blisters along the bottom of her feet. "What are you doing here? How did you get all the way here from your house? Oh, you're chilled to the bone, I'll make you some tea." She gave the girl a large hug to warm her up a bit before holding her at arm's length.

"Molly, who's there?" Mr. Weasley asked appearing from a different room.

Mrs. Weasley looked towards her husband and responded, "It's Ella, Arthur."

"Ella? How did you get here?" Mr. Weasley asked, but Ella couldn't reply. As soon as Mrs. Weasley hugged her, she burst into tears as everything that happened finally caught up to her. She was cold, angry, and hurt by everything that happened, but she was also happy because she was at the place she considered to be home.

Molly Weasley pulled Ella into another hug and held her until the crying became hiccoughs and then waited until those had died out as well. All the while, Mr. Weasley made some warm tea to help Ella calm down and to eventually warm her up. The couple moved Ella into the living room shortly after she stopped crying. The parents wrapped her in a blanket and started a fire to make the room nice and cozy. Ella's eyes glanced around the house only to realize that everyone else must have been asleep. Their presents were already sitting under a tree and waiting to be opened later that day. Ella could see that Fred and George added her gifts to them under the tree so they'd open them on Christmas still. This would've been their first Christmas apart since becoming friends if the dinner had gone as planned.

"What happened, Ella? How did you get all the way to Devon from Surrey?" Mrs. Weasley asked her kindly. She sat herself next to her and let Ella's exhausted head rest against her. Mr. Weasley sat on her other side and gently smoothed the tangles that had formed from the wind blowing her hair every which way. The motion was calming and full of care.

"I had dinner with my parents and the other people that had shown up, but they all kept talking about normality. They spoke as if I wasn't there. They talked about 'my lot' being horrid. Before I could stop myself, I snapped at them all." Ella explained how she ran back to her house in the cold, but left out that she'd been in her Animagus form for it. She told them about her bout of accidental magic and her idea to take the Knight Bus to the outskirts of St. Ottery Church Catchpole. Ella even confided in them her thoughts and fears as she walked to the Burrow.

Mrs. Weasley listened until Ella's tale had finished before she assured Ella, "You will always be welcome here whether is the break of dawn or midnight. We'd never turn you away for any reason at all. We'd be thrilled to have you for the rest of Christmas, even if your parents aren't."

"It's funny," Ella murmured with drooping eye lids, "I haven't really considered them my parents in a while. I've…I've been considering you both my parents. I'm sorry."

The adults shared a look and Mr. Weasley whispered to her, "Don't apologize, Ella. There's nothing wrong with that. We, well –we've always considered you one of our children."

Ella smiled sleepily, "Thank you, that's one of the kindest things anyone could ever tell me."

"Come on, you've had a rough night, we should get you up to Ginny's room," Mrs. Weasley said beginning to stand.

"No…I don't want to wake her up. Can I sleep here on the couch?" Ella yawned. Mrs. Weasley smiled at how young Ella seemed when she was tired.

"Of course."

She conjured a pillow and Ella snuggled herself into it. The mother figure had Ella change into pajamas before going to bd. Just before Ella completely fell asleep, she thought she saw Mrs. Weasley place a few more gifts under the tree. She couldn't be sure though, she was lost to the world in a matter of seconds.

The next morning, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were the first awake and happy to see Ella sleeping soundly on the couch still. There were no signs of dreaming on her face. Percy was the first of the kids that woke up. To say he was surprised to see Ella, was an understatement.

"Mother? Why is Ella sleeping on the couch? I thought Fred and George said she had to go to a dinner with her parents?" Percy asked.

"Things didn't go as planned at the dinner. Ella came here around midnight last night, and we should let her sleep as long as possible in any case. It was a rough night for the poor dear," his mother told him with a glance in the other room.

For an hour after that, Percy and Mr. Weasley talked about the Ministry while Mrs. Weasley worked on her cooking. Ella made her way into the room feeling refreshed and happy. She was sad that the dinner hadn't been a bad dream, but she was glad to be at the Burrow for Christmas. She gave a shy smile to the people in the room who smiled back to her.

"How'd you sleep, Ella?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Ella responded, "Fantastic, best night of sleep since break started." Ella joined in a conversation about Sirius Black still alluding capture. She added in wherever she could to throw them off of his trail. It wasn't long before there was the sound of a stampede coming from above them. Ella could only imagine their surprise at seeing her.

Mrs. Weasley grinned, "Come here, Ella." Ella moved to be next to Mrs. Weasley who put a ribbon in her hair like the Christmas presents had.

"What's this?" She asked referring to the ribbon.

"I thought, maybe we could surprise the boys. How does that sound?" Mrs. Weasley said and Ella thought for a moment that the twins probably got their mischievous attitudes from their mother. Ella nodded and stood just behind the door while the rest of the Weasleys moved into their living room.

"Happy Christmas!" Mrs. Weasley cried out to her children. She caught Fred, George, and Ginny's voice returning the statement.

Continuing Mrs. Weasley announced, "We've got an extra gift for you in the kitchen."

"What is it?" The three stated excitedly. Ella grinned and slowly rounded the corner with the bow in her hair. She saw realization dawn in the twins' eyes.

"Ella!" They bellowed before rushing towards her. Both of them raced towards her and mimicked Percy like they had with Harry in the summer.

"Isn't that an old joke?"

"Old, but good –" George told her.

Fred finished, "A classic!" Percy huffed from across the room.

"We'll be right back –"

"We need to get your gift."

Mrs. Weasley called out when they'd just reached the stairs, "They're already down here. I took them here last night."

"Thanks!" They both said and then began to open their presents with Ella. She went for Mrs. Weasley's gift first because she knew there'd be a sweater in there. This Christmas sweater was purple and Ella thanked Mrs. Weasley for it as well as the fudge she also got in the package. After the presents were open, Ella told Fred and George about the night before and how she got to the Burrow.

The boys were furious to say the least, and they made a silent vow to keep Ella happy the rest of break. It was one of the best Christmases Ella ever had and it almost didn't happen. The dinner was much better than Maxwell's the night before, but Mrs. Weasley had always been a superb cook. Ginny and Ella went to bed shortly after midnight. The girls discussed every topic under the sun until they both dozed off.

In the twins' room, George was telling Fred, "What do you mean you're not going to ask her out anymore?"

"She's just had horrible event happen to her. Ella doesn't need a boyfriend right now, she needs her friends."

"Well…"

"George, this is my decision and as my twin, you should respect that," Fred told him.

His brother sighed, "Just because I respect it doesn't mean I think it's right or that you're not an idiot…" Fred chucked his pillow in George's face, which George repeated. Both brothers fell asleep wondering if the right time would ever present itself.

A/N: How was that? I want to know what you think is going to happen between Ella and her parents then Ella and Fred! I'm in college now so I'll only be posting once a week, normally Fridays. Please review, I'll be having troubles keeping up with writing on top of everything else as is and reviews are extremely motivational! :)