CHAPTER 21: CHRISTMAS EVE-EVE
Oliver spent the next few days locked in his dorm, literally. The twins and Lee had been forced to join the sisters down in the common room. While George and Katie, the brunette in green from the ball, remained attached at the lip, Fred spent more time with the sisters.
As he already knew their identities, the girls showed them their secret. The third floor corridor with the trapdoor had been deserted since Ella's first year. No one ventured there anyway, so the girls were free to use it to their advantage.
"Fred, don't forget your broom," Ella called to him.
When the trio of pranksters had dropped down through the creaky hinged wooden square, Fred's eyes went wide.
"How did you git it all through that door?" he asked as he approached the grand piano near the west wall.
"A good shrinking spell often comes in handy." Analese replied simply, twirling her wand between her fingers.
"This is bloody mental!" Fred exclaimed as his eyes fell on the two guitars resting on the opposite side of the room.
"Will you play something for me?" he inquired.
"Alright," Ella responded as she lifted the beautiful violin from the north wall. Analese sat at the huge piano. The girls both nodded and the older girl poised her fingers over the keys.
A lovely melody resounded off the walls and Analese began to sing. Ella joined in with the reverberating tone of her wooden instrument, but not as often as Fred would have liked.
When they had finished, Fred applauded eagerly. "You guys should really perform again. You're amazing." he complimented.
"Thanks, Fred." The female redhead smiled modestly.
"Will you sing, Elle?" he asked hopefully.
"Uh… I don't know." on stage, she could belt out the songs, but, only in front of Fred, she was afraid to make a fool of herself.
"Pretty please." Giving Ella the 'puppy-dog pout' as Analese had deemed it in May of their first year, he pleaded.
"Fine," she sighed, jokingly sticking her tongue out at him. Ella put the violin gently back in its place next to the piano. "What do you think we should play?" she questioned her sister as she walked over to the wall opposite Fred. As the third year picked up one of the guitars and placed the strap behind her neck, Analese sat down at the drum set he hadn't seen before. The girls ignored the dumbfounded boy and conspired amongst themselves.
"Okay, okay," Ella teasingly surrendered to Analese's suggestion and stepped up to where she had been playing before. She sat down on the stool and placed her fingers on the strings.
When the music called for her, Ella took a steadying breath and let her voice ring out.
'LITTLE MISS MARY SUNSHINE HAD A BAD DAY
SHE SAYS IT'S OVER-RATED LIVING THIS WAY
SHE TOOK HER HAIR DOWN LEFT HER SWEATER ON THE FLOOR
SHE'S NOT A NICE GIRL ANYMORE
SHE SAYS I WON'T APOLOGIZE
SO STAND UP GIRLS AND DRY YOUR EYES
AND I'LL SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE OF GOOD
WHERE WE SAY
NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA
NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA
NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF GOOD
SHE PAINTS HER FINGERNAILS IN BLACK
SHE'S ON THE RUN
ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS
WHERE LIFE IS FUN
POINTS HER FINGER BUT THERE'S NO BODY TO BLAME
ALL THE PEOPLE IN HER MEMORY LOOK THE SAME.
As Ella repeated the chorus, Fred just sat on the stone floor watching them her with wide eyes, his jaw hanging open and reaching the floor of the dungeons.
'EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE GIRL
DOESN'T FAKE IT ANYMORE
I'M OKAY WITH WHO I AM TODAY
EVERYBODY'S GOTTA CHANGE
I'M JUST DOING WHAT I CAN
COULD YOU LOVE ME ANYWAY'
With another few repeats of the chorus, the song came to an end.
"Holy Merlin!" Fred jumped to his feet and began clapping. She smiled as she placed the guitar beside her stool. Fred ran to her at top speed and, picking her up, he swung her around. Analese coughed and sent his freckles packing as his face turned bright red.
"Oh, and Merlin is not Swiss cheese." Analese walked over to the blushing pair, smirking at the opposites.
"Uh, Fred, you can put me down now." Looking down, he saw Ella's feet dangling at least six inches off the ground. His face changed from just red to a full-out deep Muggle fire-engine color.
"Sorry, but you guys are incredible! I didn't know you could sing!" He set the short girl back on the ground.
"We try." the girls responded together, flipping their hair, despite the ponytails, over their shoulder. The redheaded girl picked up the guitar and placed it back on its stand.
The other fifth year laughed at her comment before grabbing his disregarded jacket from the floor back where he had sat to watch the private show.
Suddenly, just as Analese finished closing up the grand piano for its protection, a loud growl echoed throughout the nearly empty room.
"Oh my gosh! They put Fluffy back!" Ella squealed with laughter as Fred's stomach continued to demand for food.
"No, its just lunch time. I need food."
"I think you need a sense of humor." Ella jumped up, trying to pat the boy on the head.
Analese chuckled lightly as she grabbed the others' brooms and tossed them to their owners. Ella, used to this, caught her own household cleaning tool with graceful ease. Unfortunately, Fred was distracted by this and his own flying object smacked him in the head.
"Smooth move." The sisters smirked in a matching expression.
"Very clever, Lese." he retorted as he mounted. He followed the girls out the trap door and they headed for the Great Hall.
As usual, the others were busy with their dates from the masquerade ball. Oliver remained locked in the tower, moping over his Cinderella, the sisters had the house elves send up a plate of food to his bedside table. So, the three friends were free to discuss the Muses' pranks and music.
"You guys are so remarkable at pulling pranks now. I mean, Lese, you've always been good, and Elle, you've been good, too. But now that you work together, the pranks are flawless." Fred praised, his voice on the higher end of quiet.
"Oh, stop, Fred," Analese began.
"Yes, you're making us blush." her sister finished. Both girls put their left hand to their left cheek, which was clearly not flushed.
Professor Lupin stopped by the trio and leaned down to speak.
"I was wondering if the lovely sisters would care to join a lonely old professor for tea tomorrow?" he offered.
"Why, sir, we had already planned to." Ella replied with a polite smile.
"Of course, but please don't lie. You are far from old." Analese added with her own grin.
"Well, if you insist. Enjoy your afternoon, Analese, Ella, Fred." he nodded to each in turn and strode away quietly.
"Man, this isn't cool. Even the new professor can tell us apart."
"Nope, he has great hearing. He just heard us call you Fred while he was coming up to talk to us." Analese countered before finishing her goblet of hot chocolate.
"Let's go, I'm up for a game of Extreme Exploding Snap." Ella stood and her plate disappeared to be washed in the kitchens. The two redheads followed suit and climbed to Gryffindor Tower.
The common room was rather empty as the Hogwarts Express was filled with students going home for the holidays. George joined them after seeing Katie, his now official girlfriend off.
"Well, look who's come to join the singles club." Fred joked.
"So, what's going on?" The new-comer inquired.
"Well, Lee destroyed all of our Snap cards, so that's out." his twin answered, disappointed.
"What about the Story Game?" Ella suggested.
"Sounds great!" her sister agreed.
"You start, Elle." Fred cried in an excited voice, he loved the girls' stories, they were always full of creative characters and adventures.
"Alright," the non-redhead began a story about a family of Vampires living among a small town of uninformed Muggles in America. Everyone took a turn, and when Oliver finally left his cave, he took a seat in the circle beside Analese. The story went on late into the night and, by then, the storyline had more twists and turns than a pretzel.
"And Jenaun and Edward were married for the remainder of their immortal lives." Analese finished finally.
"That was some story." Oliver spoke through a yawn.
"Thanks for putting me in the story, Pae." the honorary Gryffindor grinned.
"Yes, Alice is very you, Teri." the older girl returned the gesture.
"This has been quite a memorable Christmas Eve-Eve."
"Ain't it the truth." George agreed with his brother.
