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With great difficulty, Gwen tried to walk downstairs but when she was about to fall, she called out for help. People heard of Gwen's cries and then saw Ginny who held the gifts in her hands. Gwen walked down the rest of the stairs and then smiled at Ginny.
"Thanks for the help, Ginny. It's actually good that I found you, where are the others?" Gwen asked, asking about the Weasley clan, minus Ron, who were all returning home. Gwen placed the parcels on top of the Common room sofa and placed the cages on the floor.
"Percy already left for the train while Fred, George and Lee still haven't shown up. And speaking of the train, I have to go, I told this girl named Luna that I would keep her company." Ginny explained as she gathered her bags around.
Gwen grinned. "Wait before you go...Happy early Christmas!" Gwen handed the gift to Ginny who quickly opened it. Ginny looked at it in awe as soon as she saw the green dress.
Ginny once told Gwen two Summers before, how much she liked the dress that she was wearing. Gwen thanked her and told her that she would be happy to give it to her once she grew up a little.
Sure Ginny knew that Gwen was a girl of her word but the dress was long forgotten in her mind but now that the dress was right in front of her, she never felt so honored.
"It's awfully kind of you, I didn't think that you would actually do it." Ginny dropped the dress on the sofa and quickly hugged Gwen. "Of course I would. You're like the little sister I never had." Ginny let her go. "Thank you but I really do have to leave." Gwen smiled. "Of course, I wouldn't want to keep you away from Luna. I'll see you on the train."
The two bid each other goodbye which left Gwen with no choice but to wait on her own. She looked down at her watch and saw how the train would leave in a few minutes which made her panic. Gwen held Artemis' and Athena's cages closer to herself.
After five more minutes of agony, the three clowns finally emerge with bright grins. When they saw Gwen they were going to comment on something but Gwen cut them off.
"No time for talking, we have to go. Some people took too long to get ready." Gwen stated as she stood up. George raised his hand sheepishly. "That would be my fault. I- umm- couldn't find my wand."
The fifth-year Gryffindors chatted up but mostly sped walked towards the train before it could leave. The four entered the train with only a few minutes to spare. They settled into an empty compartment. Lee made himself immediately at home when he took of his shoes and massaged his own foot.
Fred made a sour face. "Woah mate.. get that stinky foot away. There's barely any air in this compartment and I don't want it to be contaminated with the smell of your feet." Lee furrowed his face and then put his shoes back on.
"Oh my God! I almost forgot! I have your gifts." Lee stated after he finished tying the laces of his shoes. He went to reach for his trunk and after searching for a while, he finally found three identical boxes.
Gwen smiled as she started to shake the box in her hand and then went to untie the ribbon.
"Thanks, Lee.." Fred said as he eyed the contents with confusion. "But what exactly is it supposed to be?" In the box, along with a bunch of Honeydukes sweets, laid a small metal cylinder.
"That, my oblivious friends, is a muggle pen. It doesn't need ink and you can even change the colour that you write with, by doing this." Lee leaned forward to show the three what to do. "Ohhhhh."
"Okay now it's my turn," Gwen exclaimed with a smile and then went to grab her bag. After some time of searching through the messes in her bags, she finally took out her gifts. "These two are for you and this one is for Lee." Gwen handed two envelopes to the twins and a small parcel to Lee.
"This is great!" Lee exclaimed as he took out a Bertie Bott's Every Flavored beans box. Gwen smiled. "It's even better, they're only filled with the good ones. It took some time to sort it out but it's finished." Lee opened the box and popped one into his mouth, he took out the other item in the box and showed it to the others.
"Sleekeazy's Hair Potion." Fred read out loud with a raised eyebrow. "Gwen's right, your hair is a mess. Although Gwen, you got the quantity wrong, he needs at least one bottle a day." Gwen hit him on his shoulder and then turned back to Lee. "That was not the message I was trying to send. I just wanted you to have something to help you look sharp for any upcoming dates. Wink, wink."
George took the bottle out of Lee's hands and started to open the tap of it. He smelled the contents and then grimaced at it. "Well, it smells like cat piss. Good luck with that."
George was going to pour a few drops in his hand when Gwen stopped him. "NO, DON'T DO THAT!" George gave out a yelp and almost dropped the bottle but Fred caught it just in time.
"What was that about?" George asked as he cleared his throat. "You can't use it. It is a fact that a red-head using the potion will suffer great consequences."
Lee raised his eyebrows. "You are kidding. Right?" Fred shook his head as he read the bottle label. "No, she's not, it's actually written right here. 'Warning: Use of the Potion on red hair will give the user some unique results."
"Woah wait for a second... I got an idea!" George stated and then looked at his brother. "That bottle may hold the answer to all the time our dear brother Percy was an annoying git."
The twins high fived one another which made Gwen roll her eyes. "As much as I love hearing different ways in which you can torture your brother, maybe you two should open your gifts."
"Oh right!" The two said together. "Sorry, we got a little excited," Fred stated with a grin which made Gwen smile.
The two opened their envelopes in sync and quickly read the contents inside. "10 galleons you can spend inside the shops present in the all magical village of Hogsmeade." George read and then grinned.
"Well you know where I'm going with this. Thank you!!!!" George sang as he opened up his arms and reached forward to hug Gwen. Gwen laughed and hugged George. "No need to thank me just don't sing again."
Fred scoffed. "Look who's talking, the girl who sings like a strangled cat." Gwen took in a deep breath. "The only reason I'm calm is because it's almost Christmas and I'm feeling incredibly nice."
"I was only kidding, kind of. Anyway as George said, thank you."
"Now it's our turn." The twins said simultaneously. The two grabbed their bags and started searching and taking stuff out of them in order to find them. The number of knickknacks that they had astonished both Gwen and Lee.
"Here we go," Fred said and threw both his friends a gift. Gwen caught the gift easily thanks to her amazing Quidditch skills but Lee wasn't so lucky.
"That's the yearly Weasley sweater made by our mother... who obviously likes you two more than her own sons," George stated as he looked at the sweater that Lee was holding and the one that he was wearing.
"I mean look at it, she obviously puts more effort in theirs than ours. If we have no choice but to wear these, the least that she can do is make them look good."
Gwen shook her head after placing her yellow sweater down. "Don't be like that. You know that she loves you even though you two manage to piss her off every single day. Anyway tell her that I said thank you." Fred threw the two another set of boxes. "Now these are from us."
Gwen and Lee looked at one another warily. "Do you think it's safe to open these?" Lee asked as he pushed the box far away from him.
"I don't think so..." Gwen said as she shook the box gently. "Just open them!" Gwen sighed. "Fine but if this thing explodes or something like that, I will get you. And that's not a threat, it's a promise."
"Oh, I'm shaking with fear. I don't think that I can even sleep tonight with the thought of you coming in the middle of the night to get me." Fred said with a smile as he made fun of Gwen. Gwen quickly stepped on his foot which made him stop immediately.
Gwen and Lee opened the gifts slowly and to their surprise, it didn't explode instead in the box Gwen found a book like a journal. She opened the journal and saw things already written down.
On the front page a note was written. "To our friend Gwen, who is in desperate need of a calendar in order for her to spend more quality time with her best friends instead of that idiotic boyfriend of hers."
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Let me guess... Fred wrote this?" She asked as she saw the two boys reading the page. George hit Fred hard on his shoulder and glared at him.
"You had one job! One job!" George turned and looked at Gwen with an apologetic smile. "Sorry bout that. I thought that we should get you the planner because I heard how you were panicking that you don't have enough time with the studying and your prefect duties. I choose the style and told Fred to write the description. Looks like I can't trust him with anything."
Fred raised his hands. "It was a joke." "Was this also a joke?" Lee stated which grabbed the others attention.
In his hands, Lee held out a book with the title 'How to get a girl to like you: A guide to men who've got no clue.' Gwen snorted which made Lee look at her and glare.
Fred and George smiled. "No that was a suggestion. You really do need all the help that you can get." George explained and then had to dodge the wrapping paper which Lee threw at him.
The rest of the trip went by fast as they all spent their time talking and joking around. George even spent time with Artemis who has grown quite a bit in these last three months.
Artemis also seemed to have quite a liking towards George as the Gryffindor often handed Artie over to Gwen a couple of times throughout the school year. George stating that the cat climbed into their dormitories in order for him to sleep next to him.
When they finally stopped at King's Cross, Gwen grabbed her items including her cages. The four climbed out of the train where they found their families there to pick them up.
They were all chatting with each other by the looks of it. The rest of the Weasley's went next to their parents and Mrs Weasley started to hug all her children much to the dismay of Fred.
Sebastian stood there with his handsome smile etched on his face. He walked up to Gwen before she could get to him first and grabbed the cages which she was holding. "Good to see you again. I didn't receive any letters regarding your behavior, so I think you had a great term."
Gwen gave her brother a side hug which made Sebastian's smile even wider. "I missed you too." With one final wave towards the Weasley and Jordan families the two apparated to the Hamilton Household.
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