Out of Control Present Wrapping ((Sophia))

[Ashley Hill]

((OOC- Sorry it took so long to get this up. School, horseback riding, and getting sick has made my inspiration go down...alot. Also, god moding of Bryce was allowed by the person.))

Christmas was always a hectic time for Ashley Hill. Her parents believed in true family bonding during the time, and when you had at least 20 close relatives, it did get quite expensive. Though, most of Ashley’s relatives lived in Italy from her father’s side, but her mom’s parents lived in Manchester. Every year, Ashley’s mother would make her dress up in those puffy holiday dresses to visit her grandparents. Elina didn’t mind it so much, but it was a real struggle to wrestle Ashley into a girly dress. Her father literally had to bribe her into wearing such an ugly dress. He would say, “If you don’t get dressed in five minutes, then you won’t be able to go to play any sports.” It always worked, since Ashley was completely obsessed with sports when she was younger. She was a huge tomboy back then, but that changed in her fifth year, when she finally grew up. Well, that was the past, and at the moment, Ashley to begin wrapping her presents. She needed to finish wrapping her friend’s gifts, before her families. Grabbing the already wrapped present she had gotten for Bryce, Ashley hid it in her trunk, so she could give it to him on Christmas Day. Ashley really hoped that he would like his gift. It took her hours looking around Diagon Alley for the right idea. She was close to giving up until she stumbled upon a potion set that Bryce could use for his class. Smiling at the idea, Ashley closed the lid shut, hearing that familiar click of the locking charm. Taking hold of two large bags upon the floor, Ashley looked in them both to make sure she had everything. One of the bags contained all the gifts, and the other with wrapping materials. Once happy with everything, she lifted the bags off the ground, heading out of the dorm room to meet Bryce.

Ashley bounded down the stairs, making her way toward the fire place. There weren’t that many other students, which meant that there was more free space. Setting the bags down on the table with a heavy sigh, Ashley plopped herself down onto the chair. A curl fell into her face as she moved it behind her ear. She had a lot of wrapping that had to be done. Taking out the first gift, Ashley then set all the rolls of paper across the table, trying to decide on a certain pattern. Hearing footsteps behind her, Ashley turned around noticing Bryce heading her way. Sighing with relief, Ashley looked sideways at him as he stood next to her. “Which one do you like?” she asked pointing to the varieties of rolled wrapping paper. Ashley watched his hand extend across the table, picking up a bright red shinny roll, the paper glimmering in his eyes. Nodding, Ashley took the roll from him, tearing the tape off the end carefully. “Could you work on the second gift?” she asked, looking up at Bryce with a pleading glimmer in her brown eyes. It was the same look she always gave him when trying to convince him into doing a certain task for her. Ashley grinned as he nodded, taking a second gift out of the bag and choosing a different color scheme. Humming to herself as she finished tying the bow, she looked up across the table, noticing Bryce’s messy gift wrapping. “Bryce!” Ashley squealed reaching across the table and plucking the present out of his hand. “Don’t you know how to wrap a present?” Glancing down at the crinkled paper and uneven bow, Ashley sighed as she began to tear the paper off. “It has to be just right…”

Noticing the familiarity in her tone of voice, Ashley sighed as she stopped herself in mid wrap. She sounded exactly like her sister during Christmas time when Ashley began learning how to make the perfect wrapping. With a mischievous grin on her face, Ashley looked up at Bryce, throwing the crumpled pieces of paper at him. Laughing she took a whole yard of the wrapping paper, pushing her chair aside and leaping forward so she can wrap the paper around his head. “Hold still, silly,” she teased pushed gently down his shoulders as she took a bow from the table, planting it on top of his head. “There. Now that’s how you wrap a present.” Grinning she couldn’t help but laugh at his fully covered face. The red wrapping shined under the chandelier lights, appearing almost like a freshly picked apple. She could hear Bryce rolling with laughter as he tore apart the paper from his head. “Awww…” Ashley cried, fake pouting as he rolled the paper into a ball in his hands like a snow ball. “Don’t you dare throw that at me Bryce David Alexander!” she exclaimed loudly closing her eyes as the ball was hurled toward her. It landed smack dap against her nose falling to the ground. Before she could even say anything she felt something being placed on her head. Looking up, she caught a gold light of the bow. Laughing she shook her head throwing her hands up into the air. “Ok! Ok! No more making each other into human presents. I’ll be have tempted to stuff you into a box.” Glaring playfully at Bryce, she watched his face, listening as he spoke about having to go. “Alright…I’ll see you later.” Pulling him into a hug she pushed him forward, rolling her eyes at his final comment.

Glancing at the mess around the table, she sighed as she picked the pieces of paper off from the ground. Throwing them away in the waste bin by the table, she took a seat back down on her chair. She had only gotten two presents done, and there were at least eight that she had to get done that night. Sighing she began wrapping the third present looking up as she noticed a younger students heading down the stairs. “Sophia!” she called toward the girl realizing who exactly the Hufflepuff was. “Could you put your finger right here for me so I finish tying this bow?”

[Sophia Hallington H7]

Sophia was looking forward to the holidays. This year she would be going home-the past couple of years she'd stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas. But this year was special. It would be her 16th birthday on Christmas Eve, which she wanted to spend with her family. And also it was going to be the start of the new millennium, which she'd been excited about all year. There were so many stories about odd things happening at the turn of the millennium, it was an exciting thought. Even her cousins from France were coming over this year-she thought that they wanted to come as technically they'd be starting the new year celebrations an hour earlier! These holidays were bound to be special. Nex year she'd be spending the holidays at Hogwarts-it was the day when she'd be coming of age in the wizarding world, and the year after she'd be spending it at home, as turning 18 would be becoming an adult in the muggle world. Both of which were scary thoughts!

However, at this point in time Sophia was still in school. It was a couple of days before she would be returning to Manchester. Lessons had been slightly more relaxed this week-with the exception of potions, which was expected. The common room had been festively decorated with a tree, paper chains, tinsel, and various other decorations spread around everywhere. There was real snow, charmed not to melt, on top of the mantlepiece over the fire, complete with a couple of snowmen wearing miniarture scarves and hats, with jelly sweets for eyes and buttons. Hufflepuffs never skipped any details when it came to decorating. She remembered the Halloween party a couple of months ago hosted by Aurora Chan. The common room looked amazing then! As it did last summer at the end of the year, and at easter, and valentines day, and then the same things the past few years too.

Today, Sophia was lying on her bed in her room, reading. She'd asked her parents to buy her the latest book in one of her favourite series' which had recently been released for either her birthday or Christmas, so she thought it'd be a good idea to re-read the rest of the books. They were so good, she didn't want to risk being disturbed by reading in the common room, or somewhere like the library, hence why she was in her dorm. She sat up as she finished the 4th book in the 7-part series. She had the 5th to go, and then it was the 6th that had recently been released. She decided to have a break from reading-she'd spent the last couple of hours lying on her bed just reading, trying to ignore anything that could disturb her-and went downstairs (followed by some third years) into the highly decorated common room. There weren't many people there-a few first and second years chatting by the fire and Ashley and Bryce-both 7th years-at one of the tables wrapping presents. She knew them both from quidditch, and it was as Bryce left that Ashley called Sophia over, probably for help.

"Hey Ashley" Sophia smiled as she walked over to the older girl. "I take it you have a lot of presents to wrap? I could do with wrapping mine sometime soon actually...ah well..." she said as she put her finger where Ashley was pointing to while she tied the bow. "How many more do you have to wrap? I actually don't have that many...just my parents, grandparents, brother, cousins, a couple of friends. Actually, that sounds like quite a few..about 15. Anyway, I'll find time for it. So..." she pondered over waht to say "...what are you doing over Christmas and the new year? It's quite an exciting year really, with the new millennium and everything. Most people I've talked to are looking forward to it." In a way, it was the end of an era, going into a new millennium. There was so much hype about it around school, and she'd heard from her parents that the muggles were very excited about it aswell. It was bound to be fun-even more fun than ever.

[Ashley Hill]

Ashley looked up at the younger girl as she placed her finger on the bow. Smiling, she tied the golden threaded lace together, sighing as she finished. “Number three down. Seven more to go,” she whispered under her breath, shaking her head slightly. There were a few quirks to having such a large family. One was that everyone was close to each other. The other reason, well Ashley had too many reasons why she loved her Italian family, though there were some bad reasons. There isn’t anywhere that you go can to be alone, and everyone was just so loud. Maybe that was why she got such huge migraines whenever she vested her family. “I have at least nine cousins on my father’s side of the family,” Ashley began setting the newly wrapped present in her bag with the others. “I’m half Italian so our family can be very big.” Smiling, Ashley shook her head as she kicked the out with the tip of her foot. The chair squeaked against the hard wood flooring, but stood left open inches away from the girl. “Take a seat, Sophia.” Offering the girl an encouraging smile, Ashley took out another gift from one of the bags. “Want to help me wrap? Unfortunately my help before had to bail on me for prefect duties.” Rolling her eyes, Ashley smiled as she handed the present to Sophia. “I trust you with wrapping. Girls have a better sense of how to put gift wrapping on a paper and tying it with a bow.” Nodding, Ashley grinned thinking back to Bryce’s pathetic excuse of a wrapped gift. Ashley was still keeping him in suspense for his Christmas gift. She wasn’t going to give it to him until Christmas.

“Well normally my family will go down to my father’s mum house in Italy and stay there for a while, but were not going too this time. I have to spend most of my Christmas time with my mum’s mother, Grandmother Nadine,” Ashley responded to Sophia’s question with another quick roll of her eyes. “She’s this big old prude woman who loves to tease me about everything, though she loves my sister Elina.” Figures. Elina was exactly like their mother in personality; careful and intelligent. However Ashley inherited most of her father’s traits. Ben Hill was more outgoing, and a risk taker. “How about you? What are your special plans for this break?” Ashley asked as she took a couple yards of wrapping paper. “Hopefully nothing to boring as mine?” Wrapping the present underneath the colorful paper, she stuck the stick bows on the top, moving onto the next gift. “Thank you for helping me. How about we wrap your presents next? There’s plenty enough of wrapping paper, and bows to go around.” Nodding, Ashley looked up over at the girl, a small smile curling on her lips. Ashley hadn’t ever really met Sophia. She was one the Quidditch team, but they really didn’t talk much. Well now they were talking so that was a good thing.

“Do you love Christmas time?” she asked with an eyebrow raised slightly above her hair line. There were some grouchy people that didn’t have the holiday spirit. Cracking her knuckles quietly, Ashley set the paper down on the table, letting her tired hands get a break. “So are you excited about the Quidditch match? I’ll promise to protect you the best that I can.”

((Sorry this took me so long to reply to and that my post was this short. ))

[Sophia Hallington H7]

((Right, this post is officially CURSED! Twice now I've deleted it in the middle accidentally! Argh!! Right, third time lucky eh?))

Sophia listened and nodded attentitatively as Ashley described her frankly huge family, with interest. "Woah, nine cousins, that's loads! Wow, no wonder you have so many presents to wrap! I only have the 2 cousins-Pierre and Emily, from my mum's brother, and then I have both sets of grandparents to cater for too. Plus my parents and brother. So quite a small family, compared to yours, anyway." She sighed and thought briefly about her family. She hadn't seen any of them for over three months, and missed them. She'd be seeing them all over the holidays, when she went back to London from school to see her father's parents, and then her French family would be coming over for the holidays, which would be fun, though rather hectic. She'd seen them in the summer, but it was a while since they'd come up to Manchester.

Sophia accepted the offer of the seat, and sat down opposite Ashley. She decided that she would help to wrap, seeing as she enjoyed wrapping, and agreed with Ashley that girls were generally better at it. She'd noticed it herself at home. Herself and her mother wrapeed everyrhing as neatly and carefully as possible, unlike her father and brother, who tended to just wrap the paper round any old way as long as it was all covered, then taped it all together any way that would keep the paper in place, not taking much care or time over it at all. Yes, the paper would just be torn up and thrown in the bin afterwards, but it was always nice to give and recieve neatly wrapped presents-it made it seem like more effort was put into the process as a whole-the buying of the present as well as wrapping it.

She picked up a box, apparently filled with various games. Assuming it was for a male cousin of Ashleys, judging by the types of games in the box, she picked up some shiny silver and blue striped paper, and carefully wrapped the mediup box, tieing it all together with a blue ribbon, and put it to the side. Meanwhile, Ashley was wrapping a rather pink present, but she couldn't tell exatly what it was. She watched as Ashley wrapped it with some silver paper with pink Christmassy shapes on it. She thought she'd use the same paper when wrapping Emily's present later on, if possible. The younger girl was very girly, and loved anything pink or purple.

Ashley then sharted talking about her plans for the holidays, which were quite interesting. She laughed at her description of her grandmother Nadine, and told Ashley what her plans were. "Well..normally we'd just stay at hom over the new year with just my dad's parents from London, so it's rather peaceful. This year though my French relatives-my mum's parents and brother and his family-are all coming over too, so it'll be a very full house-I don't know how we're going to cater for them all at all! My grandparets are staying with us, but my uncle's family will probably have to stay in a hotel or something, unless we cam somehow extend the inside of the house...but I doubt that's possible. I'm sure they'll cope with staying at a hotel for a few nights...though new years eve won't be too pleasent."

"As for my grandparents, well, I just hope they get on well with each other. They should do...well, my grandad's should. They're quite similar...enjoy sitting in the living room with a good book or a paper or something, talking about the good ld days most likely. My mum's dad is more proactive, and likes gardening and stuff, but otherwise they've very much alike. My grandmothers, well, they've got pretty conflicting personalities. My dad's mum's more of a stereotypical grandmother...rocking chair and knitting, big hugs and presents whenever you go and see her. My mum's mum, she likes to get out and about, everything has to be spotless...she's very pernickety about these things..." Sophia was probably boring Ashley with all this information about her grandparents who weren't exactly the most interesting of people.

While she was taking, most of the other presents had been wrapped, only leaving two to wrap. These were quickly done, and Sophia then went to her dorm to collect her own presents. Putting the bag on the table when she returned, careful not to squash the other presents, picked out the present she'd bought for Emily-a selection of pink and purple hair accessories, including clips and bobbles, all in a pink box. She cut a piece of the silver paper with the pink shapes on, and carefull wrapped it up, sticking it together with some spellotape, and tieing it together with a pink ribbon. She was sure her cousin would like the present, with it being in her favourite colours and hair things, which she loved.

"Oh yeah, I love Christmas" she said in answer to the next question. "It's probably my favourite time of year. I love all the decorating-the tree and the house, and spending time with family and stuff, it's all great. When it snows it's even better-you can be a child again and build snowmen and things.Plus it's my birthday on Christmas Eve, which is good. Well, I'd prefer to have my birthday at some other time as all the celebrations are at the same time with nothing during the year...it would be great to have it in the summer." Sophia liked having celebrations 2 days in a row, but didn't like not having anything during the year, which would spread it all out more.

The conversation turned to quidditch, which she wasn't surprised about, seeing as she'd just joined the team, and Ashley was vice-captain. "Yeah, I am looking forward to it, though I'm kinda scared. I'm being keeper to start with, right? Hopefully I'll save the majority of the goals...if not all of them! I really hope we win...though Gryffindor seem like quite a strong team. But then again we have a strong team too...we should stand a good chance. We just have to hope Charlie catches the snitch first, and that the chasers score more goals than I let in! And thanks, protection would be great...I don't want to be hit by any bludgers...they can be rather nasty..."