Everybody Party Till the Gasman Comes

I woke up early on Christmas morning. Not by choice, I might add. A lot of giggling was coming from the beds around mine and no one can sleep through that noise. I looked at the foot of my bed where a pile of presents was sat and contemplated just not opening them. I felt far too lazy to even try. But I saw the other girls in the dorm opening theirs and decided to do the same.

Mrs. Weasley gave me a Weasley sweater, just as she'd been doing my entire life, and she'd written me a letter telling me 'merry Christmas' and to have fun at the ball. From Mr. Weasley, Harry, Ron, and Ginny I got a huge amount of sweets. I made a mental note to remind them all that I didn't eat sweets. Hermione gave me my own copy of Pride and Prejudice (the Muggle book she'd had me read earlier in the year). Fred and Lee got me an assortment of things from Zonko's (I'd been wondering why they hadn't allowed me to go in with them on our last trip to Hogsmeade).

I made my way through various other small gifts from my fellow Gryffindors, and even a few Hufflepuffs. At the very bottom of the pile was a very tiny box wrapped in light blue tissue paper. A tag sticking out of the top told me that the gift was from George. I careflully removed the box fromt he tissue paper and opened it. Inside was a bracelet made from a thin gold chain. A single charm in the shape of an 'S' was on the chain. I smiled. It was something I pointed out to him when we were in Diagon Alley that summer. I put the bracelet on my wrist.

After taking a few moments to clean up the wrappings from my other presents, I carefully put those gifts away. I told myself to remember to say thank you to everyone whenever I saw them, then made my way down to the common room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were there, just getting ready to go to breakfast when I arrived. We all thank each other for the gifts and said 'merry Christmas.'

"Want to go down to breakfast with us?" Ron asked.

I shook my head. "I'm going to wait for your brothers. I'll meet you there in a bit."

I watched the three of them leave then made my way up to Fred and George's dormitory. Though the room was deserted and gift wrappings littered the floor, the twins were still sleeping. I raised my eyebrows at them, wondering how they could have slept through their dorm mates' festivities. Shrugging it off, I walked over to George's side and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Georgie, wake up," I said, shoving his shoulder lightly. "It's Christmas, George, c'mon."

He grunted, but didn't open his eyes. We'd all been up late the previous night, but not late enough to require a lot of sleep.

I shoved him again. "George, seriously, get up."

George's arm lashed out from beneath his covers and he pulled me down beside him. His arm was crossed over my chest so tightly that I couldn't possibly wriggle out of it. He snuggled his face into my hair. "I'm not getting up, Sammy."

"Could you at least let me up?"

"Mmmm, no." George pulled me closer to himself.

I sighed, resigned to the fact that I would probably be there for quite some time, and relaxed my body. George relaxed his grip in return and I turned so that I was on my side rather than my back and stared him. His eyes were closed but I knew he wasn't asleep. I kissed his nose. "Merry Christmas, Georgie," I said quietly.

Without opening his eyes, he kissed my cheek. "Merry Christmas, Sam. Did you like your present?"

"Yep. Thank you, George." I brought my arm up and jingled the charm in front of his face.

He smiled and opened his eyes. George stared at me, his eyes tracing over my face. He tucked my head underneath his chin. I felt it when he spoke. "Do I really have to get up, Sammy?"

"Sadly, yes."

Neither one of us moved, and I closed my eyes, breathing him in. I kind of wished we didn't have to get up, too. I heard the rustle of sheets then Fred said, "Oh, look at you two. Have you finally admitted that you're in love with one another?"

George and I both moved to sit up at the same time, causing us to knock heads. We both grunted in pain, apologized to each other, then glared at Fred. George grabbed one of his pillows and threw it at his brother.

Fred shrugged. "I was just saying," he walked to the door. "Merry Christmas, Sam." And he left.

We were quiet for a moment, until George picked up my arm and looked at my bracelet. He flicked the charm then dropped my arm, linking his fingers with mine in the process. "I'm glad you like it."

I rolled my eyes. "You knew I would."

"Well, yeah. But...," he trailed off.

"Did you like what I got you?" I asked, having already seen that he was wearing it.

He moved his arm so that his hand was in front of us. He spread his fingers out and the sun coming in through the window glinted off of the simple silver band he had on his middle finger. "Oh, yeah," he said. "It's very manly."

"Did you even look at it, George? I had it engraved."

"Of course I looked at it," he said. But he took the ring off of his finger and looked at the inside of it. He smiled, then put it back on. He kissed the top of my head. "Always," he whispered.

***

Later in the afternoon, after lunch, we all (the Weasleys, Hermione, and I) went outside to have some fun in the snow. Hermione opted to not join in our snowball fight, but just watch, though I begged her to help me get the boys. She wasn't having it; something about needed to look good for the ball. I didn't know what a snowball fight was going to do to hinder that, but I didn't badger her any further.

At five o'clock, Hermione got up and said that she needed to go upstairs and get ready for the ball. I stared at her incredulously, wondering how it could take anyone three hours to get ready for such a thing. Ron voiced my thoughts allowed and was smacked on the head by one of George's snowballs for losing his concentration.

The boys were planning on going up to the castle at seven to get ready. I left a half-hour earlier. Hermione and Ginny were getting ready when I walked in, both of them in their robes. I asked Ginny to help me with my hair, and once she was done, I started getting ready along with them.

***

I stood in front of the mirror in the dorm. Over the last hour, I'd started getting nervous. As Ginny braided my hair, my heart was pounding. When I slipped into my dress robes, I felt my palms get sweaty. While I was putting my make up on, I began feeling hot. Hermione and Ginny helped me put earrings and a necklace on, and I tried to take deep breaths. They both told me that I needed to calm down, but I didn't know how. I'd never been so nervous before.

The soft satin of my robes flowed against my body and through my hands when I moved. The lights shown off of my earrings, necklace, and bracelet. My shoes tapped against the floor as my legs bounced up and down in anticipation. I stared into the mirror and, though Ginny and Hermione said I looked amazing, all I could see was the same old Samantha Maria Foster I saw everyday, only with a look in her eyes that said she might throw up any moment.

Ginny walked up behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. She'd just been down in the common room. Hermione had gone to meet her date a few minutes previously. Ginny turned me to face her. "You really need to calm down, Sammy," she said. She kissed me on the forehead, then pushed me towards the door. "George is waiting for you."

The walk from the dorm down to the common room was the longest I'd ever had to make. The whole time I felt as though my heart was going to pop out of my chest. My palms were getting sweatier every second. I stopped just short of the entrance to the common room, taking a few deep breaths and counting to five.

George was standing only a few feet in front of the stairs, hands in the pockets of his robes, and, to my disbelief, looking just as nervous as I felt. He looked fantastic. His robes were simple and black, his shoes nice and shiny. He hadn't brushed his hair like I'd heard Ginny tell him he should a few days previously, but I didn't mind. I liked his hair the way it was.

When he saw me, George pulled his hands from his pockets and walked over to meet me. I felt my cheeks flush and silently cursed my nerves. He grabbed hold of my hand and spun me around, causing me to blush even more. "You look beautiful," he said, staring down at me with a grin on his face.

"So do you," I said, then mentally kicked myself.

George laughed, then grabbed my hand. He lead me through the portrait hole and we made our way down to the Great Hall.