Hi, I'm so sorry I didn't update in…forever. I don't have internet right now, and I can only steal 5 minutes here and there at school so it's difficult.

Thanks for being patient with me.

At the Burrow:

Molly finished wrapping the last parcel, which was for Jade, and it had a pair of blue legwarmers in it, together with few sweets for Halloween.

She finished knitting those legwarmers this morning, as an quick side project, a kind of part-time knitting she enjoyed while working on the Christmas sweaters all year.

There was already one package for Bill, with candy and wrist-warmers because she knew he liked to pull his sleeves up and it always bothered her how he keeps his hands warm in chilly days.

One small package for Charlie with a mug-cosy to keep his fingers from getting burned on that steel cup he used for his morning coffee in the dragon reservation far away from home.

One for Percy with grey knitted case for his glasses. Two packages for twins, exactly the same, with two pairs of socks they requested and then, finally one for Jade.

Each package has carefully written letter attached, and was ready to be send but Molly was waiting for Arthur to get back home from work and sign each note himself.

There was nothing to do – unusual for Burrow.

All laundry was washed, kitchen cleaned, pot pie in the oven, ready for dinner.

Ginny and Ron were silently scribbling on big piece of leftover brown wrapping paper, spread on the ground.

They were supposed to be on time-out each of them in separate corner for something mischievous they've done earlier, but they seemed to forget about it, as well as Molly, and instead started to make a calendar to count down the days until their siblings will come home from school.

Silent music from radio was occasionally interrupted by Ron asking how many days are in November and what date it is today.

At Hogwarts:

"Hey Jade! Where have you been?" asked Joyce, sitting on her bed with a little compact mirror and hairbrush in her hand.

"Just exploring the grounds and you know…visiting Hagrid. He sends some cookies." Said Jade and pulled brown bag of cookies from her pocket.

"oh, …thanks." Said Maddie, a little uncertain. None of the girls except Jade had the courage to taste Hagrid's creations so far.

Jade jumped on her bed, kicking off the rain-soaked sneakers.

"Are we going to grab some lunch?" she asked shaking her head in an attempt to dry her hair faster.

"Sure, we were just waiting for you." Said Maddie and pulled her down from bed.

They had sandwiches and thick pumpkin soup for lunch, nothing big, so students wouldn't overeat before the big Halloween dinner.

It didn't stop raining so everyone spent afternoon playing snap and eating away candy from packages which came in mail this morning.

Jade missed morning mail, because of her early walk around the grounds, and not getting any letter of candy didn't help much with her homesickness, when she saw almost everyone else snacking on chocolate.

She wrapped herself in one of the throws from common room and snuggled in the chair close to the fire. She had a book in her lap, something about dragons from Charlie's old library back at home, but she didn't read.

Girls were discussing some article from Teen-witch and giggling every five seconds but Jade didn't pay attention.

Actually, she hardly noticed when the portrait entrance opened and Fred wit George climbed in. She only realized they were in common room when they squeezed into the chair with her, getting them all three hopelessly stuck.

"Hey sis! We were looking for you since breakfast!" exclaimed George, ruffling Jade's hair.

"Yeah, saw Hagrid just now, he said you were bugging him all morning." Laugher Fred and shook out rain water from his hair, spraying Jade with cold drops.

"Stop it!" she yelled and tried to wiggle her way out of the chair but it was impossible with her two brothers sitting on top of her.

"I wasn't bugging him, we just talked!" she argued and pushed Fred down when he tried to steal her book.

"Anyway, we waned to give you your part of the Halloween package mom sent this morning but you weren't here." Continued George, helping his brother up, casually.

Fred squeezed back to the chair without blinking. " But if you don't want it, then I guess…" he started but Jade interrupted him.

"I got something too?" she asked in disbelief.

"Of course you do, mom always sends us something small on Halloween, wait here I'll go grab it." Said George and pushed himself out of the chair.

Jade moved to the side so Fred could sit more comfortably, and as soon as George left, an odd silence fell on the two of them.

It wasn't uncomfortable, just unusual.

"So,…"started Fred. "You miss home already?"

"What?! Did Hagrid tell you?!" exclaimed Jade, feeling betrayed.

"No, he didn't, but I remember feeling a little homesick in our first year, and I had George here, so now you just confirmed my hypothesis." He laughed and patted Jade on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, it'll go really fast now, you won't even notice and Christmas break will be here." He promised and put his hand around Jade.

She sighed and leaned into his side, feeling suddenly even more homesick than before.

"Here you go!" yelled George and threw a big yellow envelope on Jade's lap.

The address tag said:

Weasleys – Gryffindor – Hogwards and it made Jade feel a little bit uneasy. She wasn't Weasley, she insisted on keeping her parents' name and even though she had good reasons to do it, now she felt stupid and sad.

"What's wrong?" Fred wanted to know, taking his hand off her shoulder and looking at the envelope, trying to find the reason of Jade's sadness.

"It says Weasleys." Said Jade simply, but didn't look at neither of them.

"So? It was addressed to all of us, there's a package inside for you." Said George, encouraging her to look inside the envelope.

"But I'm not …" started Jade, silently.

"Of course you are, don't be silly, you're a honorary Weasley and a prankster like us, now open it." Insisted Fred and nudged her with his shoulder.

Jade slowly pulled out small neatly wrapped package with a letter attached on top.

Dearest Jade,

We miss you dearly and can't wait till Christmas to have you back home.

We hope you will have wonderful Halloween at Hogwarts. It's getting colder here at home, so I'm sure it must be freezing up at North where you are now. Wear warm clothes and drink a lot of hot tea, we don't want you getting sick.

I'm sending you a pair of legwarmers and some candy, but you don't have to eat it all at once, and don't let twins take it from you, I've sent them exactly the same sweets.

Write soon, and take care of yourself. If you need something just let us know or ask your brothers to help you.

We love you and miss you

xoxo

Mom and Dad

PS: Ron and Ginny want me to tell you they miss you and wish you'll come back soon. Ginny, Ron

Jade folded the letter and realized she's been smiling all the time.

George broke her train of thoughts when he licked his finger and pushed it inside her ear.

"Eww! Why would you do that?!" yelled Jade wiping her ear with her sleeve.

"Don't pout and open the package!" Fred rushed her and so she finally tore the brown paper open and found a pair of blue legwarmers wrapped around a chocolate frog, box of raisins in white chocolate and jelly beans.

"Huh, it's the same like ours." Commented Fred.

"Do you want to swap raisins for your chocolate frog?" tried George, but Jade just laughed.

"You have the same candy like me, I'm not exchanging anything. deal with it." She smiled at their stunned expressions but hugged them both, feeling as close to home as she has been since September.

Dinner was fabulous, with pumpkin pudding, pie, soufflé, pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin jelly. Everything was orange and black and after an hour of eating and chatting, most of the students just sat back and enjoyed the warmth from all the fires and candles lit in the Great Hall.

Ghosts had a little ballet performance at the beginning, but apart from that, it was a very calm and enjoyable meal, with live music played by a band of young men from Hogsmade.

Professor Dumbledore rose up from his chair and was about to wish everyone good night and remind them that house points can be gained through next week by finding hidden candy all around the castle, but also that points will be taken for every candy wrapping thrown away on the corridors or school grounds when suddenly all the candles went out and five huge pumpkins which were floating above tables exploded, effectively covering everyone with kiwi pudding.

After a moment of terrified silence, when all the heads turned to professors' table to see headmaster's reaction, a roaring laughter erupted across the hall, when they saw Dumbledore smiling and tasting the pudding which got stuck to his robes.

"Not bad, not bad." He commented finally. "Please try not to spread the mess as you go to your common rooms where party continues."

Professor McGonagall didn't look very amused and she hurried to the entrance and vanished pudding from groups of students passing by.

She eyed Weasley twins suspiciously but she knew there were no proofs about who was the author of the prank and she was secretly happy they choose something as innocent as kiwi pudding for tonight.