- Twenty-Four -
"I certainly wouldn't mind."

A LOUD SNEEZE echoed around the fifth-year girls Ravenclaw dormitory on Christmas morning and it felt like the whole world rattled with her as her nose tingled and her hand quickly cupped over it before she let it go. Another one followed, smaller than the last but just as annoying; Sherry often got colds when it came to the winter, even in America, but this one was bound to be worse because she spent almost her whole night out in the grounds of school instead of being tucked up in several blankets with her friends beside her.

After her creation and murder of the snowman, she just decided on a walk around the grounds with her cares of getting caught abandoned whilst she trudged around snow that had piled up over the winter. She had taken the soggy gloves off of her hands too and just settled on having them stuffed in the pockets of the coat she had on, the castle was large and Sherry didn't truly realise just how large it was until it took her about an hour to find her way back to the entrance closest to Ravenclaw Tower.

The fact that she would wake up with a cold was obvious from the moment her nose turned slightly numb and the bronze knocker had laughed at her when she approached and commented on her bright red nose. Fortunately, it gave her an easy riddle and she couldn't help but smirk at the obvious pity it had given her; she was up in her dorm room and changing back into comfortable clothes in no time before burrowing up in her covers since it was the cold morning of Christmas Day and despite not believing in Santa anymore, Sherry thought there was nothing like the fresh morning of the 25th.

But instead of waking up to her friends excited shouts about presents, she was awoken by an annoying tingling in her nose that caused her large sneeze. Then Sherry was struck with the horrible realisation that she now had a blocked nose meaning she'd be sniffling for at least a couple of days if she didn't have a Pepperup potion from the school Healer soon.

Christmas Day was already off to a bad start with her cold and now with the lack of noise around her, specifically Connor talking through mouthfuls of food he had received for Christmas and Stephanie yelling at him for it whilst Sherry and Michael laughed whilst eating cereal, it didn't really feel like Christmas. Her mother wouldn't be coming to pick her up half way through the day either like she normally did so they could spend Christmas together even if it was just a short time.

She was...alone, in a large dorm room with made beds all around her and a cold chill running up her arms whilst her legs were still warmed by her duvet. The excursion she had taken last night to build a snowman, kick it down and then walk around the grounds had rendered her almost sleepless and therefore tired the next morning.

The only thing keeping her from falling back asleep was a small pile of wrapped gifts at the end of her bed. Even the sight of something normal made her quirk a smile as she tiredly shuffled forward to the end of her bed and grabbed the first thing off of the pile, it had a card on it with a scrawl of her name written there.

Sherry,

Merry Christmas! Really sorry we couldn't stay this year but mum says you're welcome to come here next year if you want, I said that'd be great but it's up to you. Obviously it's next year so don't worry about answering anything yet.

Hope you enjoy your gift!!

Love Amber xx

She smiled and looked at the actual gift, examining it's shape and smiling at it's rectangular box shape. The wrapping came off easy and Sherry smiled excitedly at the sight of the shoe box now in her hands, she took the lid off to reveal a clean and new pair of white Mary Jane platform heels that she felt like kissing at the sight of. They were lovely and she reckoned it was a miracle that she didn't have a pair like this.

Putting that box to the side, she reached out for one a similar shape which also had a card on top of it but the scrawl was much more messier than Amber's.

Sherry

Merry Christmas figured youd like these shoes more

Oliver

She smiled at the difference between the two sibling's cards and tore the wrapping paper off of Oliver's present, seeing another shoe box but inside this one was a pair of plain red lita heels with a copper coloured heel. Both pairs were good additions to her wardrobe and she smiled widely at the two boxes as she placed Oliver's to the side with Amber's.

Next was a slightly lumpier and softer package with another card which looked like Louis' handwriting. She opened the envelope with another smile, starting to feel a bit more giddy with every present because with every present, it felt more and more like Christmas day.

Happy Christmas, Sherry!

I know my coat is a little bit too big for you so I took the liberty of buying you one (you're gonna need it if you're spending the next three years in England). I made sure it was your favourite colour too.

Louis x

He had wrapped a red raincoat in some white wrapping paper and taking it out of the paper, Sherry smiled at it; it looked quite nice and if there was a day where she had to wear it due to the large amount of rain that showered down on Britain, she probably wouldn't mind if she was wearing this instead of the chunky blue one she wore last night. She put it to the side and looked at the last four presents and four cards.

One present was from Lyall and Hope, a nice top by Hope's selection and she didn't say anything about being sick which made Sherry narrow her eyes at the air in front of her like she was scowling at Remus somehow. Another present from Remus, which was just a simple record with the latest Stevie Wonder music on it. She hated to admit it, but she had been wanting that one for a while and for Remus to get it her made her smile softly. The next present had been from Marlene, a Rocky Horror Picture Show t-shirt which had made her smirk to herself as she put it to the side with the rest of the presents.

All the cards said more or less the same thing 'Merry Christmas' but there was also a 'hope you're well' from Lyall and Hope. The last present had a tag on it and the last card seemed separate from the gift so she grasped the final card first, freezing at the sight of her mother's familiar handwriting on the envelope. She immediately ripped into it, holding the paper up in front of her face as her eyes scanned it.

Sherry,

Merry Christmas, my darling. I'm very sorry I haven't been responding to your letters, I've just been extremely busy with the Magical Congress but I promise you I'll try harder. If you don't get any letters, just remember that I'll be there for the 4th July! Also sorry I don't have a present for you, busy with work.

Love you, baby. Mom.

A drop of something wet hit the bottom of the page and Sherry wiped a tear from her cheek when she noticed. Busy with work. It was one thing when Sherry was at home waiting for her mom to come back from work, it was another when she was across the world and waiting for even just a single word. And she'd gotten one apologising for the absence with the excuse of work, Sherry was tempted to somehow get back across to America, storm into the Congress and demand to see the people who made her mother's life busy.

The least she could do was send a full page, Sherry thought as she placed the letter down on the pile of her things before getting out of bed and walking around to the other gift and wiping her eyes. Even Remus got her a gift, the boy whose friend she hated; they weren't even that good friends and he had still gotten her a record she'd wanted for years whilst her mother sent nothing. Even Lyall, a man Sherry hadn't been all that kind to, had sent her a nice top to wear.

Her friends hadn't sent anything either, maybe they thought she was still at her American boarding school and just decided to not come down for Christmas or maybe they forgot about her too. Forgot about her like everyone in her life seemed to do; her father first when he left, now her mother and now her friends. Who's next? Lyall? Sherry began to undo the wrapping off of the box faster, her anger pumping through her veins as she tore open the gift.

Maybe everyone would just prefer it if I never reached out to them again seeing as- Her own thoughts were blanked by a large bang and a cloud of blue smoke as she took the lid off of the box in front of her. She shut her eyes as the smoke flew past her with no particular smell, just a small breeze and she breathed heavily for a moment before opening her eyes to see the blue inside of the box.

There was a note stuck to the bottom in a neat but rushed and cursive way of writing.

Thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be intelligent.

Sherry huffed, shaking her head and hitting the box for a moment, not at all bothered with the stupid little smoke prank she was sure that Potter had pulled. Well, she wasn't bothered until she turned around and caught sight of her hair in the mirror. It was slightly messy from her sleep anyway but now it was...blue. From the smoke. Not even just with dust on top of it, her actual hair was blue as in the blonde was gone and it had been replaced with an electric blue sort of colour.

Her scream was probably heard from all over the castle and it wasn't long until she was dressed and storming down the hallway of the school towards the Hospital Wing in seek of help from the Healer.

She turned a corner, hair tied back into a bun to keep it from looking like her blonde hair so if anyone other than the creator of this prank saw her, they maybe wouldn't even know it was her if she didn't see her face which she wanted to avoid the risk of, hence her fast walking down the hallways.

"Looking good, Opal." The unmistakable voice of Potter said as she stormed around a corner and saw the four figures of the little gang stood against the wall.

She whirled around viciously so she was walking backwards whilst glaring at him, Remus took one look at her and almost choked on the water he was drinking at the sight of her blue hair, Peter's jaw dropped and Sirius pressed his lips together whilst Potter just smirked.

"Go to hell, doofus." She spat venomously, narrowing her eyes at him and turning around only to walk right into someone's chest. Her feet backtracked as Potter sniggered behind her but she looked up at who she had just walked into and she swore her heart skipped a beat at the sight of her.

"Sorry about that." The boy apologised with a small chuckle and she gulped at the fact she had just run into this beautiful specimen with blue hair, he look at her and furrowed his eyebrows for a moment as she smiled up at him charmingly, trying to work his attention away from her hair. "You're Sherry...right?"

"Yeah, that's right." She smiled, normally at this point she would twirl her hair but due to the fact that it was tied up and oh yeah, blue, she settled on just biting her lip slightly.

"Wow, yeah, I'm just so used to seeing you with blonde hair." He widened his eyes and finally looked away from her hair, down at her actual face to which he smiled at. "What made you want to go blue?"

"Oh, nothing, it was just a stupid prank." She shrugged, turning to glare at Potter as he watched the interaction between the two. "I was just heading to the Hospital Wing to get it back to normal. Then you'll be able to look at me when I'm back to normal."

"You want me to look at you when you're back to normal?" He smirked slightly and she tilted her head, still biting her lip slightly as she smiled at him and stared into his lovely, sparkling blue eyes. "Cause that could be arranged."

"I certainly wouldn't mind." She flirted, taking a dangerous step closer with her smile twisting into a smirk. He brought a hand up and ran a hand through his hair as her eyes trailed after his arm in his t-shirt. "Maybe I can...look at you too."

"That'd be nice." They smirked at each other and his voice lowered when the tension shifted slightly. "I'm Matt, Matt Rowley."

"Sherry Opal, but you knew that."

"Who doesn't?" He asked with another small smirk and she smiled again, emitting a small chuckle as she brushed past him and began to walk backwards again as he turned to watch her walk away. "I'll see you later."

"Yes, you will." She delivered a small wink before turning around and walking normally towards the Hospital Wing with a self-satisfactory smirk on her face. Even with her hair a bright shade of blue and half of her confident image broken down, she still managed to tap into her flirting.

Potter watched as Matt Rowley passed him, scowling at the boy's back as he turned a corner. How did that happen? She had blue hair, she was meant to be embarrassed not picking up boys. He crossed his arms over his chest and clenched his jaw at another failed attempt of pranking Sherry Opal. It's like she had nothing wrong with her.

But everyone had their secrets.

•*•*•*•*•*•
A/N: I was gonna add her hair turning back to it's natural colour so she'd have to dye it again but walk past James on the way but I decided not to because that's something important to her that I want her to open up about.