CHAPTER 23: SHIPS SET SAIL

Ella was the first to wake up on Christmas morning. She jumped onto the couch supporting her sister's clump of blankets and sat on what she assumed to be the fifth year's stomach.

"Wake-y, wake-y, don't be flake-y!" the younger girl called gleefully.

"Get off me!" came the response as Analese rolled over onto her side and snuggled into her soft, sleep-welcoming pillow, while Ella ended up on the floor.

"Happy Christmas, Pae." the honorary Gryffindor cheered as she skipped around the scarlet and gold covered Christmas tree.

"At least it was." The redhead muttered under her breath. She had been looking forward to sleeping in a bit longer.

"Come on, the sooner you open your presents, the sooner I'll let you try to fall asleep again." Ella told her sister in her annoying sing-song voice.

"Well, my little prodigy, let's get started." Analese smiled wearily, her eyes not fully opened from exhaustion.

Ella had received the volume, ANNOTATED ALICE, from Oliver, a beautiful edition with footnotes about Victorian Customs, math problems, symbolism, and such. The expensive book also included the original illustrations. Lee had given her beautiful dragon figurine, a Chinese Fireball and a Norwegian Ridgeback. The three girls had given her a delicious-looking homemade chocolate satin pie. Hermione had gotten Ella a new copy of QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES. Ron wrapped a bunch of sweets, and Harry bought her a Chudley Cannons figurine set that could fly.

Analese received some gorgeous presents as well. Lee had given her a new writing notebook, the girls had chipped in for a box of Analese's favorite flavor of foreign chocolate from Belgium. The Golden Trio gave her similar gifts to Ella's, but Harry gave her Puddlemere United figurines instead.

Oliver had spent a fortune on Analese's gift as well. He had given her an original first edition copy of a COLLECTION OF CLASSIC FAIRY TALES, by the Brothers Grimm. The book was leather-bound, ivy green. The cover was decorated with a gold-embossed leaf border, a similar design around the title. The stories were written on pyres paper, along with hand drawn illustrations. There was also an attached silk ribbon page-marker embroidered with her two names, 'ANALESE LILYANNA'.

"Wow, it's beautiful." Ella breathed at the sight.

"Yeah, but it had to have a high price as well." Analese countered, just as stunned as her sister.

Pounding footsteps sounded from the boys' staircase.

"Happy Christmas, boys." the girls exclaimed in unison.

"Happy Christmas to you also, you lovely ladies." the twins responded as they plopped onto the couches.

"Thanks for the mini Quidditch pitch. That'll really help this year." Oliver smiled. He was ecstatic about his gift from them.

"We figured just as much." the sisters grinned as well.

"That three-eyed toad you got me, Lee interjected, "that'll be good for some entertainment."

"Take good care of him, he's sure to miss Brazil quite a bit." Ella stated.

"And the logo design you made for our shop products." George began.

"They're great. Exactly what we imagined for them." Fred finished. "And the card was brilliant." A moment later, George had kissed Analese's cheek and Fred had kissed Ella's.

"But what about us?" Analese questioned them accusingly as the girls poked the other set of siblings forcefully in the chest.

"We wanted to see your reactions." the twins defended as they reached into their back pockets. Two envelopes were produced, one addressed to Ella in Fred's hand and a second addressed to Analese in George's. "Happy Christmas, ladies!"

"We're ladies?" Ella inquired.

"Since when?" her sister concluded.

The girls eyed the small 'gifts' warily, expecting a prank from the notorious Weasley twins. Fred noticed this and was quick to reassure them.

"We would never prank a fellow comedian on Christmas." he told them. "Especially not the amazingly brilliant Muses." Fred whispered so only Ella could hear.

With those words, both girls opened their envelopes. A shared gasp of surprise was heard.

"Two plane tickets to Los Angeles, California?!" Analese yelped, shocked.

"Two passes to Disneyland California resort?!" Ella added in a similar tone.

"How could you afford these?" the sisters interrogated immediately and in unison.

"We put our money together." George began.

"And Oliver chipped in a bit." Fred added.

At the girls' doubtful and disbelieving expressions, the twins continued. "Alright, he chipped in a lot." the identical redheads finished, frustrated.

"Well, thank you, boys." Analese smiled sheepishly. "But Oliver, you spent way too much on us."

"She's right, we really appreciate it all, but that wasn't necessary." Ella included.

"It wasn't any trouble, girls." Oliver defended whole-heartedly. "And besides, you spent plenty on all of us." he reminded them.

"Well, I'm tired of feeling guilty." Lee put in. "Who's up for some Hogwarts Christmas morning breakfast?"

"We are so there!" the two girls exclaimed together. With those four words, the sisters jumped up, already dressed in comfy jeans and a sweater (Ella was toning it down for the holiday, it took less time from present enjoyment), and raced out of the common room. The four boys followed suit.

The six friends were the first people in the Great Hall that morning, including the teachers. Sitting at the single table, the group piled food onto their plates, the sisters' mountains highest..

As a discussion of the fifteen year olds' first year came into play, a few professors and two thirds of the Golden Trio joined them.

"And she told us off with a mound of potatoes and gravy dripping on the floor from her head." George finished a story, causing the group of jokesters to laugh.

"So, you guys weren't always friends?" Harry asked, having missed the start of the conversation.

"Well, when we were in our first year, Harry, young, carefree, and innocent…" Fred began.

The third years snorted. They doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.

"We didn't really appreciate girls too much." George finished.

"At least, not as anything other than a practical joke target." Analese reminded them wittily.

"Forgive the interruption, but I just wanted to thank the two young ladies for the lovely pair of socks I received under my tree, this morning. I must say, it was a rather pleasant surprise." Dumbledore smiled at the sisters, his eyes twinkling behind his half-moon glasses.

"We're glad you like them, Professor." the girls replied with a shared grin.

"Very much," he responded. "They are quite comfortable."

"Happy to hear it, Sir." the sisters returned.

"Now, if I heard correctly, you were about to tell us how you five became friends." the headmaster prompted.

"Oh, yes, that we were." Lee smiled as he remembered that day.

"Well, as I'm sure most of you remember," Oliver looked at the professors pointedly. "The four of us were known pranksters."

"Yes, Wood, we recall perfectly well." McGonagall stated.

"And our most common victim was our own Miss Analese Evans, here." Oliver went on, wrapping his free arm around the aforementioned girl's shoulders.

"Well, one day, we pushed her a bit too far." the twins interjected.

FLASHBACK

Eleven year old Analese Evans had finished classes for the day. The daily torment she was put through had increased since she had lost control and blown up at the demon pranksters, her fellow first year Gryffindors. That was back in November. It was now March, five months later. As always, Analese was running after her stressful day.

She rounded the Black Lake for the third time, reaching the two mile point. Blocking out the surrounding world, she picked up her pace to a near sprint. Despite her speed, her movements were natural and surprisingly not clumsy, which was unusual for the short redhead. While running, she was in her element, and nothing could ruin that for her.

Suddenly, the young girl's graceful stride was interrupted, sending her head first into the rough ground, her glasses breaking a few feet away, her forehead collided with a small stone.

Analese rolled over onto her back and felt sharp stabs of pain in her knees, elbows, hands, and a rather intense pain in her head.

She heard four distinct laughs and knew the culprits immediately. Those gits had pushed her too far this time. She decided to play along. Analese willed her body to go completely still. The laughter subsided and low voices could be heard.

"You think she's alright?" Fred asked.

"I don't know." George answered him.

"Maybe we killed her." Lee suggested stupidly.

"Well, no matter, we can't just leave her there." Oliver stated.

Four boys stepped out from behind a large rock, wary expressions on their faces. A dark shadow fell on the young girl and her eyes fluttered open. The light reached them and she shut them with a wince of pain.

"What happened?" Analese inquired hoarsely.

"You tripped and fell onto a few rocks." Oliver told her, conveniently leaving out the fact that his invisible rope had caused it.

"You went down pretty hard." the twins added.

The girl sat up on her elbows, wincing visibly from the pain. "Would you mind helping me up?" she questioned in the same voice.

"Yeah, of course." Lee and Oliver extended their hand to the redheaded girl. She grasped the proffered arms firmly and was pulled to her feet. "Thank you." Analese whispered. She was always polite, it was a habit that could be considered a curse.

"Do you want us to get you to the hospital wing?" Oliver offered.

"No, I can make it." She responded quietly. "But, could you remove your glasses, please?"

Sending Analese a questioning glance, Oliver obliged hesitantly. "For what?" he wanted to know.

"For this." the girl's voice returned to it's normal volume. The only thing Oliver received as warning was the sight of Analese's fist soaring toward his face.

END FLASHBACK

"She punched Ollie, here, in the face, breaking his nose and chipping his two front teeth." Fred chuckled.

"She also broke two of your ribs, Weasley." Oliver countered. "Same with you, Weasley." he looked at George.

"She did the same to Jordan, also." George elbowed Lee in the side sharply.

"That seems like something you would build a friendship on, Pae." Ella grinned at her sister. "A few good punches."

"It's true, most of my friendships happen in those kinds of situations." Analese laughed. Breakfast had ended and the many Gryffindors began walking back to the common room. "We gotta make a stop." Analese said when they had reached the third floor.

"See you guys later for our snow war." Ella called as the pair made their way down the corridor. "Hey, how did you meet the Cannons, Pae?"

"Well, over summer, I spent a few weeks at the Leaky Cauldron. After a week, someone smacked my door, begging entry. Without waiting to ask his name, I ushered him in after hearing the mob of crazed reporters heading up the stairs behind him.

"It turned out to be Kevin. At first, I didn't recognized him without his uniform, but then he introduced himself." Analese explained, chuckling slightly. "It was a few hours until the journalists gave up and so we got acquainted. He promised to pay back the favor. All I had to do was owl him." she finished her story.

"Just like you." Ella was smiling. "Only you would make friends with someone while hiding them from hoards of blood-thirsty reporters."

The girls were silent for a moment before breaking out into hysterical laughter. They reached their destination, McGonagall's office. Analese slipped through the door as Ella kept watch. Luck was on their side as the redhead closed door softly.

"Did you get it?" the third year inquired.

"Do you doubt the magnitude of my skills?" the fifth year feigned an appalled expression.

"Do you really have to ask?" Ella retorted with a smirk.

"Oh, everyone's a comedian. Let's get up to the tower, Teri." Analese offered an arm.

"Yes, let's." Ella hooked arms with her sister and the pair skipped through the castle.