CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

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It was the morning of the Yule Ball and Eleanor was still not on speaking terms with Fred. She wasn't sure how long she was willing to give him the cold shoulder, probably until she no longer felt anger or hurt whenever she happened to look over in his direction. Even though she tried to appear unbothered for the most part, she could still feel the lingering sting of rejection. After it took everything in her to ask him on a proper date, Fred had decided to ask another girl to the Yule Ball, and not just any girl, Angelina Johnson, who was absolutely gorgeous and one of Fred's teammates and friends.

How was she not supposed to feel some sort of jealousy? All she could do whenever she saw Angelina was compare herself to the Gryffindor girl, which in the end, just left Eleanor feeling completely inadequate. All the confidence she had built over the course of time, seemed to be dwindling with every passing second. The only relief came in the form of George, who asked her as a friend to go to the Yule Ball, so she wouldn't miss out.

And Marnie reassured her over and over, that it was only a ball that didn't mean very much, and that it probably wasn't going to be as good as everyone was making it out to be. Of course, as she said such things, the faculty inside the castle had overnight transformed Hogwarts into a wintery wonderland.

There were everlasting icicles that hung from the bannisters of the marble staircase, twelve Christmas trees had been placed in the Great Hall and every inch of each tree was covered in elaborate decorations. And the suits of armour that lined up the corridors had been bewitched to sing common Christmas carols whenever someone happened to pass.

Peeves attempted to join in on the festivities, by hiding in some of the armours and adding his own lyrics to the Christmas carols, which usually meant replacing the original lyrics with a rather nasty insult. He had yet to forgive Eleanor for calling him "unoriginal" and stuck his tongue out at her whenever he saw her, making it a point to blow a raspberry in her direction. However, he would only grow even more frustrated when Eleanor didn't get him a reaction but simply continued on her way as if she didn't see him.

When she woke up on Christmas morning to a series of gifts placed at the bottom of her bed, she smiled, noticing one horribly wrapped gift among plenty, but she didn't feel as happy as one would on such a day of festivities. However, as her friends stirred from their beds, Eleanor made her way to the bottom of hers and grabbed at the gift first. It was from her father and the first time; she couldn't help but laugh.

It had been an ongoing joke over the years that Eleanor's wrapping skills were terrible, why she couldn't get the hang of it, she wasn't sure, but her gifts never looked pretty. Marnie and Cedric encouraged her to use a simple spell to do the wrapping for her, but every time, Eleanor refused. She liked the idea of wrapping a gift for someone because even if it took some time, it still showed that the person cared, and maybe her father felt the same way because he clearly didn't use the spell either.

Tightly Knit ⟶ Fred WeasleyWhere stories live. Discover now