Small Cottage

He'd already left for work. Tough cookies.

Suddenly, the front door opened. It wasn't Serenity who did it, although she got a nice little bump in the forehead from the door. Selia was standing in the door, not knowing how to arrange her face, to smile, or frown. "Serenity?" She asked quietly. "Where have you been?! I went to Hogwarts, and I was homeless, and there was NOWHERE for me to stay?! WHERE WERE YOU!?" She shouted.

After about a rough two and a half hours of swearing, squealing, staring at rings, a bit of shocked blubbering from Selia, looking at some old wedding cataloges, and discussing Jake's muscles, Selia and Serenity were smiling at each other over two cups of coffee. "You have to be a bridesmaid. And come with me when I pick out the dress. Oh, and be at my bachelorette party."

[d'awww.]

"I'm going to miss my train.." Serenity mumbled.
"Really? Where are you going?"
"Oh, today's the end of break. Got to go back to school, you know."
"Well, bye, then. Keep in touch." Selia said. "I'll leave, this is sort of a weird little house here. Hey, whatever happened to curling your hair?"
"I broke my old curler, couldn't afford a new one."
"I know what to get you for Christmas. Bye, Ser. Love you."
"Love you too, Selia." So, both of them walked out of the house and apparated off.

[Guys how do you spell apparated my spell check doesn't recognize it as a word]

[Apparate/Apparition/Apparated/Apparating]

[Thanks.]

After Selia had apparated, Serenity ran back inside and left Elroy a quick little note, then ran back out and apparated away.

And at the stroke of seven, as usual, Elroy returned from work. He'd forgotten that Serenity was supposed to be leaving that day, and as he stepped through the door, a pang of guilt hammered him in the gut. He hadn't said goodbye. Anyway, soon enough, he found the note.

The letter was written on a piece of yellow legal paper, with hearts scribbled in the margins. The penmanship was awful, in navy blue ink pen, with large scrawled letters with words that took up two or three lines. It read,
"Dear Elroy,
Sorry I missed you this morning! I know it probably wasn't your fault. Wish me luck this term. Feed my cat, and make sure to eat healthy foods.
Lots of love, you,
Serenity."

Serenity came through the door at around ten, for Christmas break. There was a snowstorm brewing behind her, the whole reason she was so late- the stupid train had been delayed, and apparating was near impossible without splinching in snow, at least for her. She had a once-festive Santa hat on her head, but from the short time outside, it had gotten cold and soaked with melting snow. Her hair was all a mess, and her coat was dirty. The poor girl almost looked homeless, until she took off her coat, in which she had splurged a little on a Christmas-y red sweater.
"Elroy?" She asked, setting down her bags. "Are you here? Happy Christmas."

Elroy had been anticipating her returning that day. He'd even bothered to decorate - there was a wreath hanging on the front door. In spite of all this, he'd fallen asleep in his chair while waiting. And, heavy sleeper he was, he didn't hear her come in.

"Aw, that's cute." Serenity shut the door, effectively turning off the blast of cold air coming in the room. Maybe she should put her coat back on. It was awfully cold. She ignored it, though, and went around turning off lights. She kneeled down over Elroy, kissing his forehead, then went over to the fridge, wondering if he had bought any Dr. Pepper for her.

And, indeed, he had. How considerate. He'd certainly changed over the years.

Serenity smiled and pulled out a Dr. Pepper, wondering what had gotten into her housemate. Well, whatever it was, it was simply adorable. She sat down on the other couch, wondering if turning the TV on would wake him up, and drinking her Dr. Pepper in awkward silence.

Elroy did stir slightly, but he didn't awaken.

Serenity decided it was worth the risk to turn on the TV. Some Star Wars Christmas special. She flipped it to good old-fashioned Rudolph, turning up the volume a bit.

[wookie noise]

"We'll be independent together!" exclaimed a nasally voice on the television.

Serenity discovered that this show made her feel rather lonely. She turned it to a relaxing Christmas orchestra music-y channel, made herself some hot chocolate, and eventually fell asleep on the other couch.

And suddenly it was the next morning. December nineteenth.

"Good morning! Happy, uh, December!" Serenity said, stretching out and putting down an empty mug of hot chocolate she had been clutching. "How'd you sleep? Thanks for picking up Dr. Pepper, by the way."

"Fine," he said groggily.

"Mm-hmm. You know, today seems like a really good day to stay home and do nothing.." Serenity mumbled, pulling a blanket off the top of the couch and curling up in it. "It's all snowy out."

"Yeah..." Elroy straightened up in the chair, letting out a deep breath. "Don't you love it?"

"Yeah.." She said, sort of dazedly. "Wait, no. I hate it, actually. And Christmas, too."

"I'm the opposite; I loathe summer. And spring. And autumn."