Home for the holidays?

[Giselle Varius]

Giselle sat under one of the many trees in the gardens of Hogwarts. She had her legs outstretched and her eyes were locked on the crystal blue lake in front her that matched the colour of her eyes. On her tiny legs she had her set of notes and books for Potions which she had been in the process of revising for. With the exams not too far off now the young Gryffindor wanted to do at least half decently in her them as her lessons had taken a slip at the beginning of the year when she wasn’t quite herself. Giselle had started off the year much quieter than usual and a little off-ish to strangers; apart from people like Mylie who was currently her only friend here at Hogwarts. She wasn’t complaining though because Mylie was such a sweet girl and matched Giselle’s personality perfectly, not so much that they clashed but enough for them to get on like a house on fire. There was Aiden as well of course whom she loved dearly even if he had been acting strange all semester. Although to most other people she hadn’t been herself really. Ever since the holidays when her father had died and she had gotten taken away from Aiden and adopted by a new family she had been afraid to let herself get close to anyone and to help her with this she had become the cold and quiet type and when she didn’t have her guard down she could be quite mean to some people but it stopped them from getting close to her and leaving her like everyone else did. She just hoped that Mylie wouldn’t leave her like everyone else did or she may just give up hope completely. Then there was the one exception, someone she did know but just did not like and probably never would – Joceline. For a half sister she was horrible, like those half sisters from Cinderella. The young Gryffindor often dreamed of one day becoming Cinderella and having her ugly step sister suck up to her, she giggled softly at the thought of it.

The reason Giselle currently wasn’t focusing on her work like she should be was due to a letter which she had received recently from her adoptive parents. They were asking her about her plans for the holidays. She still wasn’t overly keen on her new family, they were lovely and all that but she was just shy around them and didn’t want to think of them as family because that meant that she was completely forgetting about her old family and she had been holding on to the memory of them as much as possible. The fact she had changed her last name from Lorka to Varius was already too much for her to have to handle. Although she appreciated that her new parents were understanding enough about her maybe not wanting to spend the holidays with them and gave the option of either staying at the school, staying with her brother or coming to stay with them. She really didn’t know what to do. Of course she had jumped at the thought of staying with Aiden but he had been acting funny as of late and he still didn’t know where he was going to spend the holidays so she didn’t rely too much on an answer from him anytime soon. Now fully lost in her own thoughts she continued to stare at the lake, completely unaware of anything or anyone around her, she needed to come up with an answer soon but she really didn’t know what she wanted to do.

 

[Mylie Styx]

Mylie knew she should probably be doing homework right now. Or going over some notes for exams or something but she really couldn't be bothered to do anything that required her to use a quill. Her mind was actually focused on her father today. Mylie didn't know what made her think about him now of all times but he was constantly on her mind today. The Hufflepuff kept thinking back on how he was never there for her and how he never intended to be in the first place. Once he knew that she wasn't normal like he wanted he turned his back on her and left her alone and without a father figure in her confusing life. What was so wrong with her that he needed to pretend like she wasn't there? Like she wasn't a living breathing human being who had feelings and just wanted to be cared about, which is why others said that she was sorted into Hufflepuff. Because she was searching for compassion from someone who knew what it was like to be like her. Mylie just didn't want to feel alone in the world anymore. She seemed like a sweet person to some but that was only because she didn't see the point in wasting time saying what she really wanted to say to some. She was already enough of a freak out here because of her ability to change features. All of these thoughts just kept building up and preventing Mylie from getting anything done, she just wasn't able to focus. Hopefully a walk or something would help her keep her mind from going insane. She needed some time to think if she was going to go home for the Holidays or if she was going to stay here. Both had a Pro and a Con so she was pretty level on which decision she should make.

Mylie's boots made noise to signal that she was approaching anyone who was near. A few students stared at her as she passed by, to which all Mylie did was scrunch up her nose at them then flick some of her chocolate brown hair over her shoulder. She hated when they stared. It made her feel like she was being judged the way her father used to judge her. Maybe if they kept staring she could turn into something really ugly for them. Or maybe look the way they thought she would. If it would make them like her and stop staring she would be anything they wanted her to be. Mylie walked further away from the students and would have gone further if she hadn't seen a familiar face sitting under a tree. Slowly she headed over to Giselle. Her only friend at Hogwarts so far. "Giselle!" Mylie's voice was quiet but hopefully Giselle would still hear. Even if she didn't Mylie approached the tree and looked down at the Gryffindor. She motioned to the ground as if asking to sit down or if she could join her. Mylie wouldn't stay if she wasn't wanted.

 

[Giselle Varius]

It was like Giselle was completely under some sort of trance now as she continued to stare at the lake. She wasn’t even thinking about looking at it anymore as it was like something was pulling her to it and she couldn’t look away. It was safe to say now that Giselle’s thoughts had gone off on a tangent to the extent where she wasn’t really thinking of anything, she was just staring at the lake, the soft lapping waves bringing her further and further into the trance which she had found herself in. Never did the eleven year old girl have to make such a decision, which really in the long run wasn’t that hard of a decision to make. Well to the young girl it was a huge decision to make. She had never had a Christmas away from the family before, she had always awoke in the morning to a few gifts at the bottom on her bed along with a note from Aiden. He had always gotten up on Christmas morning before her and hid her presents all around the house. He’d then give her a treasure trail of sorts which led her all around the house and finding a different present and with the present another clue which led her to her next present. Each year the last clue would always lead her to the huge Christmas tree in the living room which she and Aiden would have decorated. Giselle often found herself thinking of things like this, memories that made her smile. Memories like how Aiden would always lift Giselle up so she could put the star on top of the tree. She wondered if her new family would do the same thing. This was things that she didn’t know if she wanted to find out. She was almost afraid to spend time with her new family in case they didn’t have a big tree or presents or all the other things that made her love Christmas. She didn’t want the first holiday she spent with her new family to be bad and put her off them forever – she didn’t know if she could live without Christmas.

As memories like this continued to swirl in her head Giselle became completely oblivious to the outside world – she didn’t even hear the footsteps coming up behind her. It wasn’t until she heard someone say her name, it was faint but enough to bring her out of her daze. Taking a few moments to gather her thoughts again she blinked in confusion as she tried to find out where the voice had come from. Turning her head a bit she saw a pair of feet behind her and as she looked up she saw a familiar face that brought a soft smile to the young girls face. “Mylie!” she said happily to her friend, the only one she had made so far at this school. Seeing the brown haired girl signal to the ground Giselle shuffled to pick up a few of the books that she had around her to make room. “There you go!” she said happily, feeling that Mylie shouldn’t even have to ask if she wanted to sit and talk to her – it’s what friends did. “Sorry about before, I was in a bit of a daze.” she said with a light shade of pink rising on her cheeks.

 

[Mylie Styx]

Mylie knew that something was up with Giselle. It was obvious because she was in one of those typical trance-like state's that made it impossible to communicate with them. The Hufflepuff wouldn't hold it against her though. If something was wrong then something was wrong, and it wasn't like what Mylie was saying was ever really that important. "Relax. It's fine, I wasn't really saying much anyways." Mylie's voice held little emotion in it but she did manage a small smile to show Giselle that she meant what she said. It was fine and she really didn't care all that much. A lot of students around here tended to beat themselves up for something that wasn't really their fault to begin with. It made them easy to get beat up on. Mylie was a Hufflepuff but she suspected it was because she was searching for someone to care and she wasn't all that mean either. But other than those characteristics she didn't think she fit the House very well. Actually, she didn't think she fit any of the houses. Mylie wasn't really smart like the Ravenclaws, nor was she bold or courageous like the Gryffindors. Like Giselle seemed to appear when people spoke to her. Mylie wasn't prejudice or anything either so it wouldn't make sense to be put in the infamous Slytherin house. She was pretty much the biggest nobody there could be. She did't really belong anywhere around here but that was probably a good thing. Standing out meant people would bother her more and she would have less of a chance to hide from them. Mylie would rather observe them and try to be like them. The students were so different that it was hard to pinpoint exactly how she wanted to go about this. If it was this much of an issue impressing her peers then how did she expect to impress her father. How could Mylie make him understand her strange ability and make him care for her? 'That man makes me so angry sometimes.' He found a way to love his other children. Her half-brothers and sisters got much more attention then she did but just because they weren't different and freaky like she happened to be. At least she was different. Wasn't her father supportive of that sort of thing? Mylie mumbled something under her breath that hopefully Giselle would not catch. Talking about her family was the last thing Mylie wanted to do.

For a moment she felt selfish. Mylie didn't want this whole day to be about her so she figured saying something would make her feel like less of a jerk to her newfound friend. "What haze you in a daze Giselle?" Her voice was still soft. Sometimes Mylie forgot she was capable of speaking loudly of yelling of any sort. Even when she was completely filled with burning rage no anger ever left her mouth. Mylie was just too plain jane and mellow to really get upset to the point where screaming became an issue. A ant crawled it's way up Mylie's jeans. It was only about half-way up before Mylie flicked it away and watched it fly back into the grass. Sometimes she felt like an ant in the world. So small and easy to kick down.

 

[Giselle Varius]

Giselle felt bad about practically ignoring her friend, she didn’t even really know how long Mylie had been standing behind her before she came out of her daze. She was relieved when Mylie reassured that it was alright. Giselle had been finding it hard to make friends so far and she didn’t want to upset the only friend that she had made so far, Mylie’s friendship was far too important to Giselle to fear risking it in any way possible. “Thanks.” she said softly, a smile gracing to pink lips. She stretched out her feet and sat back against the tree a little more, making herself more comfortable. She let out a small, content, sigh as she put her head back against the trunk of the tree as she looked up at the clear sky. Seeing a few birds flying overhead made Giselle jealous as to how lucky they were. They were carefree, able to fly wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted without fear of disappointing anyone or having the hard choice of where they had to spend the holidays. Giselle frowned, for an eleven year old she really over thought things too much. This time last year she couldn’t wait to get to Hogwarts so she could be at school with her big brother and everything would be alright but it wasn’t all it had cracked up to be. She didn’t know why she was letting this small thing get to her so much, she was at Hogwarts for crying out loud, she was supposed to be having the time of her life but it was only alright. She knew that if she could get out of this sort of funk she would be able to at least enjoy the rest of the year and worry about the rest of her school career when she came back after the holidays.

She dropped her eyes from the sky and looked over at Mylie when she asked her a question. She shrugged her small shoulders slightly. “Just thinking.” she said rather vaguely. Neither of the girls had talked about their home lives so she had yet to even tell her that she had been adopted just before starting school. Giselle really liked Mylie and appreciated her friendship, something that Giselle wasn’t really up for taking for granted as she found out that it wasn’t as easy as she had once thought it was. For that reason she knew that she had to open just a little and tell Mylie what was up. Giselle hadn’t really opened to anyone since her father died, she didn’t want to let anyone in her life again in case they left her too. “You see before I started school..my..my father died. And because my mum died when I was young I was put up for adoption.” she told Mylie, her voice soft as she hadn’t told anyone this yet. “I got adopted by a new family and they’re nice but I don’t want to go back to their house because...it isn’t home. I was trying to think of what my other options were.” She told Mylie, stopping to look down at her shoes again. She hadn’t told anyone this yet and it felt good to tell people but it didn’t mean she was going to go spreading it around the school.