The Riddle behind it all {M.R.}

{37}

The holiday had been passing quickly. Before I knew it, there had only been a week left of it. Well, the week that included Christmas and New Year's.

Ginny, Hermione, and I realized that we had quite a lot more in common than we thought. We were equally busy with our school. We loved testing new spells. We all loved the same sort of candy. And we were just as messy as the other one.

Our room was barely ever clean, which was the complete opposite of the boys' room.

Alex still wanted to kill Harry, and I for sure was not really going to stop him. Harry hadn't said a word to me personally since that fight in the courtyard at school. He avoided having any interaction with me whatsoever. And always, somehow, managed to sit or stay as far away as possible from me. Ron on the other hand was just scared. He would say sorry a lot and try to avoid conflict, even with his sister. It was sweet at how much he panicked at times, but I'd just ignore it and move on.

-----

We sat in the lounge, all of us laughing. It was cold, so a few of us were cuddled under thick blankets. Hermione, Ginny, and I stuck under one as we sat against the bottom of the couch, with the boys sitting on top.

The grownups were all handing out presents, and of course Molly handed every one of us a wrapped-up jumper. Without hesitation, we all pulled the jumpers on, seeing our initials sown in the front and back. I truly fell in love with it. It was fluffy, warm and the perfect shade of green.

"Lee?" Alex said behind me, causing me to turn around.

He had a small, wrapped gift in his hands, before he moved it forward, gesturing for me to take it. With a smile I did, before unwrapping it, revealing a small box. I frowned, before opening, being wooed by a little green snake brooch. I gasped, turning to him, my eyes wide in excitement.

"Alex?" I questioned as I removed it from the box. "You didn't!"

He smiled. "Of course I did."

I turned to Ginny, where she helped pin it to my collar that I had pulled out from under the jumper. I turned to Alex, before jumping up, giving him a hug. He laughed, before helping me sit back down on the floor, lowering myself into the blanket again.

"It's really pretty," Hermione said, tracing her fingers over the brooch.

I smiled. "It is."

"Hermione, your mum sent you this," Remus said as he handed her a box. By the way Hermione's hands dropped when she took it, I could tell it was heavy.

"What is it?" Ron asked behind her as he bent down.

Hermione smiled as she opened the lid of the box. "Well, books of course!"

I giggled, looking over Hermione's shoulder. "Oh. I didn't take you as the romance novel type."

Suddenly she shut the box and turned to me with wide eyes. "How did you know that it was a romance novel?" she asked in shock.

"I've read it before," I said, giving a light smirk.

Hermione looked at me with surprise. We both knew what the book was about. It wasn't quite holy in ways. It was quite- quite inappropriate...

After an entire day of handing out gifts, everyone had had too much fun, sending us three of us into exhaustion. I had already fallen asleep on Ginny's shoulder by the time she laid her head on mine and dozed off. it took Hermione about two chapters into her book to fall asleep with the book on her lap.

The boys had only noticed that we had fallen asleep by the time they wanted to take us out for ice cream at night. It was only eight, and they noticed we weren't really moving much more than breathing.

One for one they carried us to our beds on the third floor. Ron carried Hermione, Harry carried Ginny, and Alex carried me.

"I'm surprised they are this close," Harry said as he pulled the blanket over Ginny and my shoulder's.

Alex looked at him as he placed my shoes on the ground. "Something has made Lee a bit softer," he said, before walking after Ron to the door. "She's, quite caring lately."

Harry looked at me and gave a soft smile. "I'm glad to see her so happy."

Alex looked at him, before scoffing. "Yeah, since you caused her not to be."

-----

"You sure you want to do this?" Ginny asked as she held they dye in her hand.

I sighed. "My roots are growing out and I'd rather die than walk with them into Hogwarts."

She laughed, before suddenly squeezing the bottle of black hair dye onto my head.

"Oh god," Hermione giggled as she watched me rub the dye into my hair.

"Oh my gosh," Harry laughed from the door. "You really hate your hair, don't you?"

I laughed. "Since when did I not?" I asked jokingly, making them all laugh.

"Alex is going to be mad when he returns from his date," Ginny said, sitting down next to me.

I laughed. "Let him be. He knows damn well that I'd do this one way or another."