Leila Andromeda McGonagall has always been a dreamer. When a series of unfortunate events continue to hit her, she realizes that some things are just not possible.
"You don't smile as much these days, Leila."
"What's there to smile about anymore, Ha...
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As the glowing sun shined over the Hogwarts grounds and peeked through the Gryffindor Girls' dormitory window, warm rays of light blanketed over the students' bodies, slowly lulling them out of the land of the unconscious.
Hermione, the first to awake, trudged groggily from her bed to the calendar placed on the back of their door, ready to check for the day's activities. When her eyes skimmed over the week and landed on the correct date, where three words were written in Leila's neat and loopy script and followed by exclamation points she recognized to be Lavender's, she gasped in realization.
The anticipated day had finally come; December 25th, 1994, or, as most fourth years and above recognized the day to be, The Yule Ball.
With newfound excitement, the bushy-haired girl rushed to her barely conscious friend.
"Leila! Wake up! We've got to get ready!"
Still curled up comfortably in her bed, Leila groaned in response. "For what? Do we have a Potions lecture I've forgotten about?" she asked, her tired voice muffled by her pillow.
Hermione huffed at her friend. With an amused grin, she replied, "There's no way you could have forgotten. You practically stayed up all night talking about today."
The dark-haired girl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she wondered what her friend was saying. And as she wracked her brain for the day ("What day is it?" she thought) and tried to look at the calendar from the corner of her eye, it suddenly hit her. Essentially shooting out of bed, she threw the blankets over herself and rushed to the same calendar her friend was standing in front of only a few minutes ago.
Sure enough, the words were written in black ink: The Yule Ball.
"Oh, Merlin! Hermione, why didn't you just tell me?" she cried, frantically moving from the calendar to the mirror, checking to see if her appearance was ok and that she hadn't developed boils over the night.
With a humorous smile, Hermione said, "Well, that wouldn't have been as entertaining."
Rolling her eyes playfully, Leila patted down her wrinkled pajamas and grabbed Hermione's hand. "C'mon," she started, "let's open presents." Together, the girls plopped down at the side of their beds, and began unwrapping their gifts.
As she opened the lumpy package, carefully removing the label with handwriting that belonged to her mother, Leila caught sight of a beautiful red and gold patterned fabric. Pulling the item of clothing out, she realized that it was a qipao, a traditional Chinese dress. Her mother must have gotten it when she was in China.
Grabbing the note that had fallen out from the dress, which Hermione was looking at in awe, Leila read the messy note quickly.
