My Winter Wonderland ((Rachel))

[Lori Leigh R6]

Lori touched her new Pink Sapphire ring that she wore on her pinky. She smiled. Her mum had always been a great gift giver. The ring was white gold with the Pink Sapphire in the middle and a few little diamonds around it. Lori’s parents had a good bit of money, but this ring was a splurge even for them. Lori started crying when she saw the ring the first time and then immediately pulled it on her finger. Well, she had always been a tad emotional. This wasn’t just a ring. It was her growing up ring. Sure it sounded silly, but every Leigh girl got a ring during her fifth year. Even as a child, Lori couldn’t wait to be fifteen and get her ring. Still, she had no idea that she would be getting it on Christmas. Lori smiled. Pink was her favorite color and she adored the pink ring on her finger. She couldn’t wait to show it to all her friends at Hogwarts. This was the one thing she really wanted to show off. Lori smiled. She was glad that she still had a few days of vacation left. Yes, Lori loved Hogwarts, but she missed her parents. Well, at least Florence was at Hogwarts now. So Lori did have a few people she loved with her at school. Lori smiled admiring the ring on her hand.

“Lori!” Florence called running into Lori’s room and jumping on the bed. “Huh?” Lori was in a trance from watching the muggle T.V. set in her room. She had always admired the actors on the screen. They were so..composed and mature. She glanced to Florence. After she took a second to get out of her trance, she smiled. “Hey.” She said to her sister. “I need to go return a sweater in Hogsmeade and mum says I can only go if you take me.” She started giving Lori puppy eyes. Lori smiled. “Which sweater?” She asked. “The one daddy gave me. It’s too big.” Lori smiled again. And it was a horrible color. Oh well. Daddy couldn’t help that he was a bad gift giver. Well at least his gifts always made Lori smile. Lori sat up. “Okay, gimme a minute.” She said standing up and walking to her dresser to find a shirt that was better to wear out than her tee-shirt.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Florence said as she pulled Lori from the Floo Network at The Three Broomsticks. Lori sighed and walked after her younger sister. She waved quickly at the few familiar faces in the pub and then followed Florence outside. Lori smiled. She loved Hogsmeade. The little village was comforting. She especially loved it when it snowed. The village was a like a cozy little hollow. Lori brushed a piece of wavy blonde hair away from her face and followed Florence. Florence finally stopped at the little clothing shop that she loved so much. “Umm, how about you meet me at the café?” She pointed to the little one across the street. “You can handle this, right?” Florence nodded. Lori knew that Florence liked to be independent. Lori smiled and headed to the café. She smiled at the cute boy at the little outside checkout. “Hmm, one hot chocolate please.” He nodded and smiled at the beautiful, tall girl sitting beside. Lori smiled, paid for her drink and sat down at an empty table. Sure it was freezing and she was probably crazy for drinking outside, but she didn’t care. She loved winter. Lori glanced around at the few staring faces. At least people had died down the talk about Lori and Theo. Well, a little bit at least. Lori sighed. This was hard enough for her without people gossiping and making it worse. She shook her head and took another sip of hot chocolate. She wished that those gossipers could just leave her alone.

[Rachel Cohen R6]

It was one of those dreams. The ones that are perfect in every way which makes you not want to wake up. Because when you do wake up you realize things aren’t as great. Well in most cases anyway. And as perfect as those dreams are they also made Rachel Cohen very angry. She didn’t like to be reminded that things could be better. She liked to think her life was perfect as it was. After all she had everything she could possibly want, a mother who loved her, friends that where amazing, and a boyfriend who was just as great. Not to mention anything else she wanted. What else could she possibly want? She had the world. And then there was one thing, her father. No one thought he’d die. The doctors said he’d be okay. But they where wrong, and he had passed away. It was so long ago and Rachel was okay with it now. Her near perfect life that kept her busy and satisfied. The only place she wasn’t safe from it was her dreams. Dreams like these that were more like memories, only a lot clearer and vivid. She was having one of those just before her mother bounced into her room throwing open her large windows filling the room was bright sunlight. Rachel groaned as her mother jumped on her bed. “What?” She asked rather grumpily her voice horse. Her eyes where slowly adjusting to the sunlight. As she proper herself up her mother handed her a cup of tea and pointed to the window. “Sweetheart it’s snowing.” Her mother said her green eyes, which were exactly like Rachel’s, sparkling. She was giddy as a child, her excitement seeping out of her. Rachel understood this. This was her mother’s favourite time of the year. She loved it more than anything else. The cold air, wet snow, and all over freezingness had no affect on her. She loved it all. Rachel didn’t share her mother’s excitement but she loved seeing her mother this happy. Her mood was turning for the best. “Well sleepy I think you should go out today, see friends, or go shopping, do something.” Her mother was saying, more like pleading. So she had things planned for herself. “Alright mum, I’ll do that, but just get out, your over eagerness is making me sick.” She told her mother not hiding her sarcasm, she usually waited till noon. Katherine set the tea by her daughter’s bed, and skipped out of the room.

An hour later Rachel was ready to leave. Her brunette was straightened and pulled in a very lose ponytail. Her shirt was something she had received for Christmas, and she had that shirt layered with another. Since it was to cold over anything else she had on jeans. One more look in the mirror and she headed out her door to the stairs. She walked into the kitchen, her mother was sitting there with her own cup of tea reading the paper, and she glanced at Rachel. “So you are heading out?” She asked as if it wasn’t a tad bit obvious. “Of course.” Her daughter replied as she kissed her mother on the cheek, she then told her mother she was getting a ride to Hogsmeade. Her mother only smiled and waved her daughter off. She was once again immersed in her paper. When she looked up her daughter was gone. The house was quiet, but it normally was.

Rachel walked down the streets of Hogsmeade; she had a little bag under her arm that held candy she had just purchased. Arriving there she realized she had no plan, nothing in mind so she wandered aimlessly for awhile until she stumbled unto a café where she went on occasion. She decided to walk buy some coffee after all she might as well sit down and enjoy. It was hot and it burned her throat as she toke the first sip, and bitter, but that’s how she liked it. It was perfect. Now it was the matter on where she was going to sit down at. The tables where either filled or dirty. She looked around hoping to see someone recognized and her eyes fell on Lori Leigh, a girl from her house and year. She toke her time walking over there, but before she knew it she was there. “Hello Lori, fancy meeting you here. Mind if I take a seat?” She asked brightly.

[Lori Leigh R6]

Lori smiled as she took a sip of her drink. She loved the tingling feeling it gave as it went down her throat. Lori looked around. She loved winter. She loved the cold air and she loved the feeling like everything was special. Snow made everything feel special and that was one of the many reasons that Lori loved snow. She smiled a few snowflakes still fell. She wanted to be like a little kid and stick out her tongue, but she refrained. It would be fun though. Lori sighed as she looked around. A lot of people were walking around the village, returning things they didn’t like or that didn’t fit them. Lori hated to return things even if they were horrible. She even tried to wear some of the hideous clothes that relatives bought for her. She just wanted to nice. After all, it made them happy. Lori figured that she could look a little awkward, but still make someone happy. It was a little price to pay and Lori was happy to pay it. Lori looked up half-expecting to see a familiar head of short blonde hair. She sighed. Theo has a tendency to show up where Lori was without either of them knowing that another was coming. They had known each other too long. Actually, they had known each other since birth. They were best-friends and Lori always wanted to have Theo by her side.

Lori looked up as someone spoke to her. A grin popped up on her face. It was Rachel Cohen. She was in Lori’s year and house and in Lori’s dorm. Lori knew the girl of course, but she spent more time with Theo than any of the girls in her dorm. They were all nice though. Lori was just used to hanging out with Theo more than anyone else. They were the Golden Pair through and through. Still, Lori wondered about Scott. She was used to him after all. Theo liked him or at least he seemed to. It made Lori a bit jealous, but she didn’t tell Theo. Nope, she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Plus, it was better this way. It just was. Lori smiled at Rachel. “Hey Rachel.” She said in her normal, cheerful manner. Lori would talk to anyone. She liked anyone until they gave her a reason not to. That was just the way she was. “Of course you can sit.” She said smiling. Lori didn’t mind the company at all. Actually it would probably be nice to actually have a ‘real’ conversation with someone besides Theo and Florence for a change.

“So what brings you here, shopping? Annoying little sisters?” She laughed at her small joke. Okay so Florence wasn’t annoying. She loved her little sister after all. “Florence is returning a sweater.” She spoke of her first year little sister. Florence was in Ravenclaw as well. “But at least I came at a perfect time. It isn’t snowing in Essex right now so this is wonderful.” She said looking at the snow falling. Snow looked like white cotton candy. Again, Lori had to hold back the urge to stick her tongue out. Lori smiled and took another sip of her drink. “I love winter. It makes the world look like one of those Winter Wonderland books.” She smiled. Lori loved those books with the snow princesses. Lori always wanted to be one as a child. Actually, she still did. Lori smiled and waited for Rachel to say something.

[Rachel Cohen R6]

Her mother had insisted she went out. There was something rather suspicious about the notion. Katherine didn’t often keep things from her daughter. If she had plans with Emily she would come out and say it. If she had a business meeting she wouldn’t have been walking into Rachel’s room like that. She would have been putting on a suit and getting her make-up done. She would have left Rachel a note on the counter, and Rachel probably wouldn’t have been at Hogsmeade. All in all, her mother was acting suspicious; if Rachel didn’t know better she would have thought her mother was going on a date. But Rachel knew better. After all, Katherine and Noalan had the perfect relationship … well until her died. They had known each other as children. First best friends and then they fell in love. They were married young, had a child young, and one of them died young. I’m sensing a pattern. It’s been ten years since his death, Katherine could move on, but she had nothing to move on to. Rachel hoped it stayed that way. She didn’t want her mother going out with a new person. She shuttered at the thought of getting a step-father. It was ridiculous. She never had a father figure in her life, just her mom, she didn’t need one now. But she was getting ahead of herself. She was only thinking of the possibilities. Katherine was probably going to somewhere inappropriate with Emily and just didn’t want her daughter to know. This was a better thought and Rachel relaxed taking a seat when Lori told her she could join her.

She toke a sip of her coffee and it was a bit cooler by now. It was the weather. Winter had never been her favorite season. It was defiantly her mother’s, but not Rachel’s. She was more of an autumn person. The weather was cool without getting too cold, and it was gorgeous with all the leaves. Her mother preferred snow, all the white, it was endless. “So what brings you here, shopping? Annoying little sisters?” Lori asked with a small laugh and Rachel smiled. “My mother forced me out of my warm bed to go out.” She told her, remembering she was having an interesting dream before she woke, she couldn’t remember what it was about. “Florence is returning a sweater.” Lori explained. Rachel figured it was Lori’s sister. She had been mentioned occasionally in the dorm. “But at least I came at a perfect time. It isn’t snowing in Essex right now so this is wonderful.” Lori continued and Rachel could see she was a winter person as well. “That’s the reason my mom sent me out, she loves the snow, it gives her like this weird energy and she hates to be inside, she thinks everyone should enjoy it. Therefore sending me here.” Rachel said gesturing around her. “I love winter. It makes the world look like one of those Winter Wonderland books.” Lori was saying. “But snow is so cold, winter isn’t the warmest time.” Rachel said with a laugh. “So anything exciting happened over break?” Rachel asked with curiosity.

It was nice to see a friend during the break. Oddly enough she had seen a lot of her friends all break. Randomly bumping into them at the oddest places. Like when she had bumped into AJ, right as she was about to get mugged. That was the oddest meeting. Then there were a few scheduled meetings. She liked to have company and people to be around.