Impossible to Return

Fire and Mistakes

Piper woke up the next morning feeling terrible. All the chocolate she had eaten the previous night was taking its toll on her.

Marlene, Desiree and Alice weren't in much better of a shape either. Desiree, who ate the most chocolate, was currently throwing up in the bathroom. Alice was still sleeping. Marlene was laying spread out on her bed, groaning, and wishing she had more chocolate.

Lily however, was in a very happy mood. When Piper woke up -rather late in the day- Lily was just finishing her makeup. She had bid goodbye to the girls with a smile and said she was going to head to Hogsmeade. Lily's sleep had benefited her, and the tables had turned from last night when Lily was the one feeling awful.

When eleven am rolled around, Piper knew she had to get out of bed, as much as she didn't want to.

As Piper was brushing through her tangles of brown hair, Marlene suddenly declared, "We should go to Hogsmeade."

Alice—who was now awake—looked at her incredulously. "In this state?"

From inside the bathroom, Desiree called, "I'll pass!"

"Oh come on," Marlene said before applying Chapstick. "Sure, we don't feel the best, but Piper's never been to Hogsmeade!"

"I would like to see it," Piper admitted, before grunting as she tried to brush through a particularly bad knot in her hair.

"See?" Marlene stood up from her bed, and yawned. "We should go shopping."

"I thought you were going with Jax Gray, your new boyfriend?" Piper said, remembering Marlene's earlier excitement.

Marlene smoothed down her blonde hair- that by some miracle wasn't as messy as Piper's. "He cancelled on me yesterday. Which means it's the perfect time for me to hangout with you girls!"

Alice yawned. "Well, I do want to restock our chocolate stash. We ate through it all last night."

"So it's settled." Marlene smiled. "We're going to Hogsmeade today."

After an hour of getting ready, Piper, Alice and Marlene were ready to go. (Desiree was still throwing up and said she'd stay.)

Marlene had put together a cute outfit, while Alice and Piper both decided to just go in sweats. Neither of them felt like dressing specially.

After handing their permission slips to Argus Filch, the school caretaker(Piper had gotten her father to sign her's before she left for Hogwarts) they were in a carriage on the way to Hogsmeade.

It had snowed the previous night and a heavy dusting of snow covered the ground. Piper had been about to put on her old snowboarding jacket, but wearing it reminded her too much of the old times at Wilderness High School, and her quest with Leo and Jason. Funny, it had been so long and seemed so far ago she could call them 'old times'.

Luckily Piper had packed another winter coat and had worn that today instead. It wasn't her favourite, but it was better than being assaulted with all the old memories.

When they arrived in Hogsmeade, Piper gasped. It looked beautiful.

There were rows of shops with swinging signs, owls flying overhead with letters tied to their ankles, students and townspeople alike roaming around, and the general feeling of a small town.

The covering of snow on the buildings' roofs made it look like icing on gingerbread houses. The snow reflecting the sunlight made it glimmer, and the snowbanks looked so tempting to jump into.

Marlene immediately took Piper to Honeydukes, which awed Piper even more. Rows and rows of any kind of sweet you could imagine—from exploding bon-bons to chocolate frogs, Honeydukes had it all.