Author's Note: Okay, so this chapter will hopefully be able to live up to my promise of 1,500 words or more. I know the last two chapters were short, but they were mainly just fillers until Christmas. Read and Review:))
I would like to thank...
JojoSalas for alerting me and,
reBELLS14 for reviewing
I do not own anything except for my original content and what not.
"Mrow. Mrowwww. MROWWW!"
This was how Josephine woke up on the morning of December 25, otherwise known as Christmas. Harold was screeching his alarm in her ear. Rolling over, she replied with,
"Shut the hell up Harry! Can't you see I'm trying to enjoy my freedom to sleep?"
"MROW!"
"Fine, I'll get up if you'll shut up." Josephine clamored out of bed to be greeted by the empty bedroom that would usually be filled with three other girls. On her way to the bathroom, something shiny, at the end of her bed, caught her eye. 'I wonder what the devil that could be.' Waling over to inspect it more thoroughly, she discovered that it was a present...surrounded by more presents. "What the hell!" exclaimed Josie.
Gingerly sitting down in the middle of the pile she pulled the original one that had caught her eye into her lap. Looking at the tag on she saw that it was from Andie. 'Well, that one could be expected, but what about the others?' After looking at all of the tags she wrote down all of the names on a list: Andie, Lizzy, Sapphirre, Frank, Remus, James, Sirius, Hagrid, and even Peter had sent her something. 'Wow. This was so nice of them. I have amazing friends.'
Andie sent her a locket with a magic picture of the two of them in one side and a picture of all of the marauders, Frank, Lizzy, Sapph, and them. Lizzy sent a set of stationary for her to write to them over break. Sapphirre sent a new edition of her brothers magazine that he makes out of his room, the Quibbler.
From James she received a book on Quidditch , from Sirius, a Chudley Cannons scarf, and from Peter a little snow globe. Hagrid sent an invitation to have tea at his house that very day, and last but not least, Frank sent a scrapbook half-filled with magic pictures of all of them hanging out through the year so far. He attached a note saying, " I hope that we are able to fill up the rest of it this year." Josephine took a moment to soak all of this up. As a tear ran down her face she got up, dressed, and headed down for breakfast.
Of course something had to ruin her day, and that something was named Severus Snape. He had chosen not to go home for break. 'Great,' thought Josie, 'now I'm going to have to be alone around him for the rest of break.' Because most students had opted to go home, the staff and students sat together at one table. I'll give you a hint at who Josie had to sit next to, his initials are SS and he had greasy hair. They chose not to say anything to each other and instead listened to Dumbledore reminisce with McGonagall about previous Christmas's.
After some downing some quality uncooked oatmeal, just how Josie prefers it, she pranced out to the Black Lake, to lounge around until it was time for Hagrid's tea. As she was lying there daydreaming about what it would be like when her friends came back from break, she noticed a shadow looming over her. Turning around, she came face-to-knee cap with Professor Dumbledore.
"Hello Miss Hayworth, how are you this fine day?"
"Umm, f-fine I s-suppose." Stuttered Josephine, she was intimidated by his prominence and couldn't quite speak. She knew that he was a nice guy, after all he had helped pay for her supplies, but she still couldn't shake her fear of men. Hagrid was a whole other story, he was like a big kid, but Dumbledore, now he was old. She did love his style, even if it was too attention-grabbing for her to ever wear. Suddenly, Josephine began blushing furiously when she realized that she had been staring at him for five minutes without saying anything.
"S-sorry Professor, I spaced out a bit."
"Ah, I figured as much. I must admit though, the reason I came here was not to gaze at the beauty of nature. Would you mind accompanying me to my office?"
"Yes, sir...I mean no, sir...I mean, I don-" Dumbledore decided to end the poor girls misery by saying,
"No need to become flustered, I am assuming that you were trying to say yes, you will accompany to my office."
"Yes, sir. I was trying to say that." sighed a grateful Josephine.
Once they arrived in his office, the elderly headmaster asked her to "please, take a seat" and would she "like a lemon drop?" Politely declining his offer whilst sitting down in a surprisingly comfortable chair, Josephine looked up to him expectantly.
"I suppose you are wondering why I have brought you into my office." To this Josephine replied with a demure nod.
"Well, Josephine, it has come to my attention that your parents," Dumbledore ruffled through some papers looking for some information, "John and Rita Hayworth, have requested that you stay here for the summer. I have tried to tell them on numerous occasions that Hogwarts does not accommodate students in the summer, but they are persistent. Now, what do you propose I do?"
Josephine looked at him in stunned silence. The Hayworths had contacted her Headmaster about her? This was embarrassing, she hoped that this wasn't going to trigger an investigation into her home life. She didn't know what she would do if she was put into a foster home or an orphanage.
"Sir, I do not know how to answer you. If they do not want me staying with them over the summer, and I cannot stay here, I do not know what I will do.
"Well, I fear that I may have to instigate an investigation into your home life. If they are treating you like this when you are not there, then I must wonder how they must treat you when you are at home."
Josephine visibly paled when he said almost the exact thing she was afraid he would say.
"I don't want you to do that!" blurted Josephine.
"And why not?"
"I don't want to have to leave Hogwarts and my friends."
"What makes you think that would happen?"
"If you look into my home life, then I will be put in child protective services and be stuck in an orphanage or foster home."
"There are foster homes and orphanages in the Wizarding World."
"There are?"
"Yes, there are. Now, what you have said has worried me, what is that makes you so sure that you will be taken from your home if there is an investigation?"
"I...don't have the best...home life." Josephine tried to word it as delicately as possible.
"May I ask what makes it bad?"
"I...don't really want to talk about it sir, I apologize."
"No, please, accept my apologies. I understand why you wouldn't want to share this with someone you barely know. I just want you to understand that I, and the rest of the staff, are here for you if you ever need an adult to talk to. I also want you to know that there will be an investigation and I will personally make sure that you have a good place in the Wizarding World to live."
"Thank you so much Professor." said a grateful Josephine in a husky tone, trying to hold back tears.
"You are most welcome Miss Hayworth, most welcome indeed."
After that emotional conversation with her Headmaster, Josephine needed a relaxing cup of tea, good thing it was about time to head over to Hagrid's. Singing one of her favorite songs, Penny Lane, she trotted off the his hut. Upon reaching the door, she lightly rapped on the solid wood. After a moment, a loud banging could be heard and the door swung open to reveal a grinning Hagrid, covered in flour.
"Hello Josie, come on in!"
"Hi Hagrid, thank you for inviting me over."
"It's my pleasure!" Looking around, Josie saw that the friendly half-giant had tried his darndest to make the little hut, look festive. He had made popcorn and cranberry ropes that were hanging on the tree and over the mantle. The tree was a overly large pine, that he had probably cut down himself. On the small table was a red green table cloth with tea and actual biscuits adorning its surface.
"Oh, Hagrid! It's magnificently magnificent! It must have taken you hours to to all of this!"
"Oh, it isn't all that really, it only took a second." said a bashfully blushing Hagrid.
"No, it really is something, you are so great Hagrid." This only caused him to blush more. He quickly tried to steer the subject away from him and onto something else.
"I invited that Slytherin boy, Severus Snape, but I don't think he'll be joining us. I only did it to be nice."
"Ha, I would have liked to see his face. He is the biggest jerk in the school, other than Lily Evans, and a stuck up twit at that!"
"I'm getting the feeling that you don't like him." Hagrid teased playfully.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." smiled Josephine. Sitting down to eat the biscuits and drink the tea, Hagrid and Josie had several very nice discussions about trivial little things. After she had been there for nearly two hours, Josie regretfully told her friend that she had to go, or else she would miss dinner.
Saying her goodbyes, Josephine skipped off to the castle, eager to get these holidays over with, so she could be with her friends again. In the middle of her trip, she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Turning in the direction it came from, she saw nothing. Feeling the hairs on the back of her neck prick up at the thought of being followed, she rushed the rest of the way, flying through the doors while panting heavily, half out of fear and half out of physical stress. Looking around wildly and seeing nothing, she calmed herself and walked into the Great Hall. Scanning her surroundings, she saw that everyone from breakfast was there, all except for one person, Severus Snape.
Author's Note: BAM! 1,752 words! I promised 1,500 and I delivered! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please review!