chapter 7

                                    

                                          
it was coming towards Christmas time and the girls were going to do their Christmas shopping at hogsmeed. they were all returning to their own homes. much to the dismay of emille, she hated home, not that she would tell anyone why. 
                          
Halle was having the usually Christmas ball and this year her mum and dad had decided to let the kids come. they hadn't been to allowed to attend since they were 11 after a small incident Halle had blamed on James. I won't go into detail but let's just say it involved fire. nobody got hurt though.
                          
all the girls were invited and would be attending. so that meant dress shopping. Lily, em and Alice loved the idea, even April was fond of it. but let's just say Halle didn't like dresses and looked at them as if they were going to give a disease or something worse. 
                          
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after their Christmas present shopping and a butter bear in the three broom sticks the girls walked into the dress store. as expected Halle was glaring at the dresses menacingly.
                          
Halle after much effort was pushed into a changing room with 10 or 12 dresses. she be grudgingly put them on one after the other only to revive responses such as, 
                          
"no"
                          
"defiantly not"
                          
"makes you look nerdy"
                          
and finally
                          
"that's offensive to my eyes." from April. 
                          
Alice put on dozens of sparkly outfits only to buy one completely different to what she'd normally wear. along with shoes that at first she was completely against. 
                          
Lily wouldn't go with any till she found the one that was 'her colour'. and that was the same with the shoes. making sure nothing clashed with her hair. 
                          
em found hers immediately, first dress she put on. and to think she didn't think she'd like it. and her shoes were her style. to tell the truth she looked good in anything. 
                          
April was the hardest and couldn't find anything that suited her. she ended up going back empty handed. but she wasn't too upset. and she got shoes. maybe she was planing something. 
                          
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the girls got onto the platform. 
                          
Halle ran to her parents with James and Sirius hot on her heels. they apperated home only to find their house covered in snow. inside looked even better the large staircase had roses and holly weaved every where. the ballroom had a stage set up for the band. there were Christmas trees around and about. her dad was putting up mistletoe and she went up the two flights of stairs to her room. she couldn't wait for the ball. 
                          
Lily ran into her mother's arms. she then hugged her dad and went to hug her sister who snapped sharply at her. they drove home to find the Christmas lights up and the snow newly set on the ground. it was starting to get dark so the lights were brightly shining. she walked into her home, it smelt of ginger, hot chocolate and freshly baked cookies. she changed into her pyjamas and sat in front of the fire wrapping presents, hot chocolate in hand. 
                          
April walked over to her mother, it seemed her father was busy at work again. but at least she'd see him on Christmas day. she and Remus ran into the house to decorate the tree. they always did this after school every Christmas. their mum brought them hot chocolate and ginger bread men along with the tree decorations. they spent the rest of the evening doing this before she fell asleep in front of the fire, her head on remus's lap. 
                          
Alice walked up to her parents. sure she was loved but sometimes she read a little jealous of those with siblings. it got pretty lonely sometimes. at least she had the girls now. they had accepted her and hadn't judged her. they walked through the bitter wind and snow and into the warm house. it was brought and homely but it didn't have all the Christmas smells. her mum wasn't one to cook that was left to Christy the house elf. she looked under the tree to find a huge stack of presents. don't get her wrong she wasn't ungrateful she was just timid and didn't enjoy the fuss. but she couldn't wait for the ball. 
                          
em walked towards her father. the only parent she loved. at least her mother wasn't here. her father dropped her outside her house before going to work. em took a deep breath before walking into the house that was lacking that Christmas feel. she saw her mum in the chair in yet another drunken stupor. after being ordered around, and having a beer bottle and three knifes chucked at her she went to bed skipping dinner. like there would be any food anyway. she wished. she guessed this would be like any other Christmas. depressing, lonely, full of hate and yet more time to be abused by her mother.