It had been four days since the Christmas celebration that the trio had relished. There was excitement amongst Amelia and Olivia, mostly because one of them never celebrated it and the other didn’t how wizards and witches celebrated such a joyful event. They were mostly waiting to see if their dresses really did the trick. All the Christmas decorations had been put down by Mr. and Mrs. Bluesky, with a little assistance from the three girls, as well. There were new colours brightening up the mansion, now. There were white and yellow lights, flickering in an interesting pattern. The theme colours for New Years were: black, yellow and white. The girls had feasted and their stomachs were full of the warm food they had eaten (which was ramen, Isabell’s personal favourite). 

The sunset outside the mansion was a symphony of colours. The celestial orange fireball in the sky started lowering, going down the horizon until it was a semicircle. Its beams came slashing through the forest. The deep, haunting ballad of its ancient song called out to the still mansion. The forest was still steeped in plushness and opulence.The exquisiteness of the sunset’s light had lanced to the lush, green sward and hoods of black shadow hung in the groves. The damp breath of the forest glided with deadly intent. It deadened sound, haunted glades and poured into empty spaces. A sepulchral silence overhung the hallowed ground where the trees dared not grow. Nothing stirred, nothing shone, nothing sang. It was as though the whole forest was holding its breath as it watched Heaven's eye look upon them. There were several butterflies hovering over flowers. They pirouetted in the air, their wings a-whirr like little ripples of colourful silk. Almond-brown trees stood serenely, awash with a faint glow. Their bark looked like rifled toast and gems of amber clasped their crusty exterior. A shiny spillway led to a choppy pond. Boulders colonised the edges of the pond, buffed with pillows of dampened moss, which had been kissed by the waves of the pond. They caused a rocky gurgling as water met stone; a swish, a clunk, a swell and a clop. Sweet fragrances, alluvial and palliative, seemed to flit in and out. Sight and smell vied for attention in this soul-enriching dream world. The Bluesky Mansion remained lit and still in the middle of the enchanting woods. The white and yellow lights kept flickering in a pattern. Black and yellow balloons were held captive on the rough barks of trees near the mansion. The wind of winter caressed the balloons, which couldn’t resist its blustering strength. 

‘I can’t wait for new years,’ Olivia said as they were comforted in the newly decorated living room. 

‘Me too,’ Amelia agreed. ‘I really want to know what it’s like to celebrate it.’

There were black and yellow hangers on the ceiling. It was getting closer to twelve. Isabell looked excitedly at the wooden grandfather clock. It was six thirty. Her expression went glum as her eyes goggled on the time. 

‘I hate this,’ Isabell glared at the blue grandfather clock.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick- tock-

‘Isabell, you’re like Ivan. Relax and be patient,’ Amelia laughed.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick- tock-

Mrs. Bluesky came in, fully dressed. She was wearing a long yellow sheath dress that reached the floor. She was wearing a black leather jacket over it, making the brightness of the yellow contract with the darkness of the black. She came to them, smiling thinly as she served them some firewhisky, which Mr. Bluesky had just gotten from a nearby wizarding pub. 

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick- tock-

They began drinking the firewhisky. It had the name “fire” for a reason. Amelia hurriedly gulped it down. She felt her throat getting warm as the firewhisky entered her body. Her tongue buds welcomed the firewhisky in, and it went down, every part of her body feeling the firewhisky’s welcome. Amelia sighed in satisfaction and continued to drink the firewhisky, so that all of it happened again, and again, and again-

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick- tock-

A whole hour had passed, and soon even Amelia felt bored. 

‘Should we just spend another hour trying the new dresses Mr. Bluesky gave us?’ Olivia yawned in between and she spoke. 

Isabell and Amelia nodded their heads in sync and after they thanked Mrs. Bluesky for the firewhisky, (‘No problem, dears,’ Mrs. Bluesky responded with a cheerful mood) they went up the tortured stairs, which squeaked with pain as the trio climbed up them. They decided to go to Isabell’s room. Isabell’s blue room. The ceiling was the enchanting shade of midnight blue, almost resembling the sky outside as silver stars freckled Isabell’s ceiling. The bed sheets were the same dark shade of blue, and the chocolate sculpture of her - which was Amelia’s Christmas gift - was on her nightstand, this time under a small snowing cloud.

‘Dad put that with magic, so that it never melts,’ Isabell explained as Amelia and Olivia looked at it curiously. 

‘Alright, so I’ll go first and experiment with the dress. If you two can just exit for now,’ Isabell said, shoving Amelia and Olivia slightly as they exited. 

Isabell hurriedly closed the door behind them and they waited for five minutes. 

‘Come in!’ Isabell’s voice came from inside. 

Olivia touched the cold doorknob and pushed the door open to see Isabell in her indigo blue blouson dress with the glitter white belt placed on the waistband. The hem of the dress was lined with similar white dots. Isabell also wore the hook earrings (that had glimmering blue gems) and the glass pumps. Amelia and Olivia eagerly watched Isabell, who was currently in the position of thinking what to wear for new years. 

A yellow dress would do fine… Something black to suit the occasion-

Isabell finally knew what her heart desired to wear. Isabell closed her eyes, and almost instantly, blue smoke started forming around Isabell, so that she was only a dark blue silhouette to the two girls, their eyes wide. Now the blue smoke was twirling around Isabell, as though a ballerina. Swirls formed on the smoke and it began twirling faster, faster, faster, until it went poof! And what replaced the blue smoke was Isabell, with a completely new outfit on her. Her dress, pumps and jewellery had transformed to what you could call a New Years outfit. She was wearing a yellow silk chiffon dress, reaching right under her knees, with black dandelions printed on the end of it. It was long-sleeved. Her earrings became stud earrings, all black and shaped as roses. Her pumps turned into heels, which were yellow with black stripes and almost resembled a bee. 

‘That’s probably one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen in my life,’ Isabell said, looking at her dress, which shone brightly.

‘That’s because you only wear blue and nothing else,’ said Olivia as she rolled her eyes.

‘Yeah, I don’t think it’s weird,’ Amelia agreed.

Isabell shrugged as she grinned at the dress. She began combing her hair as Amelia and Olivia exited the room to change into their dresses. Olivia entered her room then put on her dress. She thought of a New Years style. A yellow dress replaced her red one. It was an off-shoulder, knee-length halter dress with a ruffled skirt that had black stripes and layers. It was long-sleeved. The earrings transformed into layered tassel earrings (one layer was yellow and the other was black). The pumps turned black and had an open toe. Olivia made her hair into a french braid as Amelia headed to her room to change. Amelia thought of a New Years’ style as well. She saw white smoke, with surprisingly black swirls, surrounding her. Her dress transformed into a tassel dress that reached right under her knees. It was long-sleeved as well. It was black, unlike Olivia and Isabell’s dresses. Her earrings turned into golden ball earrings as her heels turned into black kitten pumps. They all exited their rooms and met in the corridor.

‘Probably my favourite dress of all time,’ said Olivia, looking at everyone. 

They descended the stairs and spotted Ivan eating ice-cream in the living room.

‘What’s that?’ Amelia asked Ivan, who raised his hand that was holding the ice-cream so no one could take it. 

‘My ice-cream.’

‘Ice what now?’ Amelia said confusedly. Ice-cream… cream that is… iced? Is it a Muggle treat?’ she asked with her eyebrows raised.

Isabell, Olivia and Ivan nodded.

‘Ice-cream… Can I taste it?’ Amelia asked.

‘NO!’ Ivan shrieked aggressively as he jumped up and down on the couch. 

‘Ivan…’ Isabell said soberly. ‘Be nice…’ 

‘Get away or I’ll eat you! Your skin is like tanned cookies!’ 

Isabell, Amelia and Olivia goggled up at him. 

‘Talk about being racist…’ Isabell muttered under her breath.

Mrs. Bluesky barged in, silencing Ivan with a deadly glare. She looked frantically around and gasped, and she gasped for a long time that she might have sucked in all the air.

‘IVAN, GO TO BED RIGHT NOW! NO ARGUING!’ she shouted angrily, waving a mop she was holding in Ivan’s face. ‘And say sorry to Isabell!’

Ivan glared at Isabell.

‘Sorry!’ he screamed in her face.

‘KINDLY!’ Mrs. Bluesky roared.

‘S-sorry.’

‘And give Amelia your ice-cream!’ Mrs. Bluesky added as Ivan was about to lick the ice-cream.

‘No, it’s fine-’ Amelia began.

‘Give it to her, Ivan. Now.’

Ivan huffed, then handed Amelia the ice-cream reluctantly. 

‘Now go to your room!’

Ivan stormed up the stairs as he blew a raspberry in Isabell’s face, who growled at him. Mrs. Bluesky followed him. Amelia licked the ice-cream… her eyes widened.

‘What’s this fascinating Muggle treat?’ she said as she dug her face in it.

Olivia and Isabell roared with laughter. Amelia finished the ice-cream quickly, leaving no drop in the cone. Her head began hurting.

‘What-’

‘Brain freeze,’ Isabell laughed.

They then heard commotion upstairs. The girls, in curiosity, drifted up the stairs and entered Ivan’s room. Ivan was standing near the arched window of his room, about to hop off. 

‘Everybody here hates me!’ Ivan said, tears glistening in his eyes. 

Isabell ran towards her brother, whose one leg was on the other side. Ivan quickly placed his other leg, his only support his hands that clutched to the window pane. Ivan gave his sister one last sad look and hopped off, the rushing air muting his scream. Isabell cried in shock and went to the window and leaned in to see… nobody. Isabell looked here and there, dread on her face. She heard a faint howl, the pitch high and dying in the end. But Isabell was in another world of dark thoughts swirling around her. She was panting, curling herself in a tight ball.

‘No...no…please…’ she whispered.

 Isabell saw Olivia and followed her gaze to the window. Another howl entered their ears. Steel claws extended from a silver wolf’s large paws. Silver fur with silver tips stood straight up. The wolf’s long snout cringed. His lips were tight and pulled forward. Its ears were pointed slightly forward. The wolf’s forehead, neck hair and hackles were raised. Ivory teeth appeared between the jaws, its tongue moved around its mouth, and saliva dripped from its lips. But there was something on the wolf’s back… or someone. Isabell looked at the wolf, almost camouflaged in the dark.  It was Ivan, stunned as he rode the wolf’s back. Ivan almost fell and clutched the wolf’s fur. Next to the wolf was the outline of a teenage boy with messy hair. They saw the boy’s eyes drift towards the window, hazel eyes glaring right at them. The hazel eyes went back to the wolf. The boy took Ivan off his wolf. Ivan ran back to the house, scared. 

‘Good job, Griseo,’ the boy said. 

The girls ran down to the garden. Isabell took Ivan into her arms as Amelia and Olivia looked at the wolf.

‘Who are you,’ Olivia breathed, looking at the boy.

The boy looked at her, a grin slowly creeping on his shadowed face, which then went down. 

‘You know me,’ he rasped, and looked down disappointedly. 

The boy then whistled and the wolf came up to him, looking at the girls as its pointed ears went straight and growled. 

‘Griseo, they’re… friends…’ the teenage boy said, though he said the last word in hesitation. 

Griseo’s ears went down and he looked at his master, ready to take orders. The boy rode on his wolf, whose back was still straight. The wolf wrinkled its nose then growled lightly at the girls. The wolf dashed past them, its claws holding the dirt and quickly letting go. 

‘Wait!’ Olivia yelled. 

The wolf came running to her and stopped an inch from her face, its rider looking at her curiously. 

‘You can speak animal?’ Amelia asked the boy. 

‘No. Only wolf. I just found out recently.’

The boy saluted them and whistled again, and the wolf was a grey blur to them as soon as it ran away, its tail wiggling behind it. 

‘Albert, wait-’ Olivia said as he was about to walk away.

‘That is Albert?’ Amelia said, gawking at the shadowy rider. 

The boy took off his cloak, revealing a boy with a sleeveless black torso and black breeches, along with black boots. The torso was so tight that they could make out his barrel-like puffed chest. The boy ruffled his dark ginger hair, which then got touched by the wind as it slowly passed by. Playful hazel eyes, which then turned serious, looked at the girls. 

‘I tried to apologise… and now I tried again… by saving that little guy…’ Albert said softly, looking at Ivan, who was pressed tightly to Isabell, having no intention of letting go. 

Amelia and Olivia looked at each other then at Albert.

‘I’m the one who saved you from the ball Elora sent, none of you recognised my voice,’ Albert said, shooting Olivia a sad look. ‘Happy new year…’ 

Albert whistled again, his wolf obeying as it began racing towards the path in front of it. 

‘Why didn’t you tell us that before-’ Amelia began. 

But Albert and his wolf had already vanished. All the girls looked at Ivan, who looked at his feet guiltily. Isabell started speaking.

‘Ivan, I always loved you from the moment I saw you. True, you can be annoying and irritating, but that’s what makes you… you. Mum, dad and I always love you and always want you to stay in our family, the Blueskys. The moment you jumped off that window… I was heartbroken, figuratively and literally… The voice inside my head went: You failed to make him feel loved. You failed to care for him… And the next thing I knew was that depression was coming to me. If it weren’t for Albert and his wolf… you would’ve been dead meat. Ivan, all I ask from you is: will you remain my annoying brother until we die?’ Isabell looked tensley at Ivan’s wide eyes, a new light for hope and love in them. 

Ivan squeezed Isabell.

‘But… What does ‘fig-ur-atively’ and ‘liter-ally’ mean?’ he frowned. 

Amelia smacked her forehead with her hand. 

‘Albert. Letter. Now,’ said Olivia as soon as Isabell finished speaking.

Amelia and Isabell frowned at her. Before anything could take a breath to speak, Mrs. Bluesky came marching towards them, a deadly glare set on them. 

‘Why on earth would you venture off and stand in the middle of this coldness? And what is all this saliva on the ground?’ Mrs. Bluesky scolded, removing saliva from the sole of her shoe with a disgusted expression. 

‘To sum it up-’ Amelia began.

‘Just enter.’

They all entered the house, surprised by the previous events. Olivia rushed upstairs, grabbed spare parchment and her school quill that had an eagle feather. She began writing a letter to Albert:

So… hey. I just wanted to say thank you for saving Isabell’s brother. I also wanted to say I’m really sorry and would really appreciate it if you came over to celebrate the new year with us.

Lots of love,

Olivia Dragonheart

She quickly put the letter in an envelope and headed down the stairs. She asked Amelia if she could use Bianca to send the letter to Albert. 

‘Yeah, sure,’ Amelia had said.

Olivia ascended the stairs and gave Bianca the letter, who held it with her beak and nodded in understanding. Olivia opened the window for her and watched her soar across the sky. 

Albert was walking alone, with only Griseo for company. He sat down under a tree and yelled in anger. He heard wind slipping through leaves, cracking undergrowth with each step, creaking tree trunks, the flutter of wings unseen.

I should never have become friends with Leo and Levi… 

Albert groaned. Griseo growled as a Karner Blue butterfly that he was chasing flew higher and higher, out of his reach. Albert saw something white, a white dot to be exact, in the sky. It was getting closer and closer, until he could make out the outline of it. He realised it was an owl. Amelia’s owl. It dropped something on his head then flew away again. Albert quickly took the letter that was on his head and read it so fast that his eyes were blurs. He smiled at the last few words, “lots of love, Olivia Dragonheart”. 

‘Griseo,’ Albert said as he stood up. ‘I would like you to stay here, alright?’

The wolf nodded as he began chasing the butterfly, who seemed to have brought accomplices. Albert felt exhilarated as he approached the Bluesky Mansion. He hesitantly knocked on the door, and Amelia opened. She didn’t slam the door in his face as he thought she would, but instead, she let him come in. Olivia and Isabell appeared at the doorway. Olivia smiled at him as she led him inside by the arms.

‘Who’s that?’ Mr. and Mrs. Bluesky both said in unison.

‘Albert. A friend,’ Isabell said.

They nodded. Isabell looked at the grandfather clock. It was eleven thirty.

‘Mum, it’s eleven thirty!’ exclaimed Isabell, smiling toothily.

Albert faked a “yay” and looked down gloomily.

‘What’s wrong?’ Olivia asked. ‘Didn’t you want to stay here for New Years?’

‘Yeah, I want to… It’s just… with me hanging out with Leo and Levi, I don’t really think I’m all that welcomed… I mean, I know I acted in a strange way… but I think you guys just didn’t really realise that…’

Albert looked at her green eyes. 

‘I might need other people. But you are the one who I need most… along with Amelia and Isabell.’ 

Olivia tried to hide her reddening.

‘Even if we weren’t popular Slytherins and had fans running to us in the corridors?’

‘Even if,’ Albert replied.  ‘And what do you mean popular Slytherins- you’re a popular Ravenclaw.’

‘No, I’m not. I’m just a book-loving nerd and-’ 

‘That’s obviously why I like you!’ Albert said, then his ears went red, realising what he had just said out loud. 

Olivia gaped at him. Amelia and Isabell had wide grins on their faces. 

‘Didn’t I tell you to remind me at eleven? Not eleven thirty?’ Mrs. Bluesky rebuked, making Albert and Olivia focus on her. ‘Let’s go outside and set up the fireworks.’

Everyone exited except Olivia and Albert, silence between them. Unexpectedly, Olivia rushed to him and hugged him. Albert was surprised, but not as surprised as Amelia, who they didn’t realise was still in the room.

‘I-uh-um…er-’ Amelia struggled to find the words she needed. 

‘Nevermind,’ said Olivia sheepishly as she hurried outside. ‘I- I just didn’t see him in a while.’ 

Amelia smirked as she followed her, Albert plodding behind them with a surprised yet cheerful look. Mr. Bluesky must have used magic, because all of the fireworks were already in place and set up when they got out. 

Why is time moving so slowly… thought Isabell.

They all waited… and waited… they felt congested in the cold air that grew around them as the seconds ticked by… the clock finally struck twelve. The fireworks set off! Some shot straight up before exploding, others whirled in a spiral, some shattered into thousands of sparks, others tumbled like a scarlet waterfall or floated in a glittering silver shower. The flamboyant fireworks display illuminated the many revellers dancing on the next house’s roof. The colours were so bright it almost felt like daylight. All they could hear was booming, crackling, fizzing, popping! Mr. and Mrs. Bluesky kissed each other as soon as the clocks struck twelve. The girls and Albert watched the beautiful fireworks, and unlike the normal Muggle ones, these could make shapes, such as hearts, dragons, cups or even names. Ivan was jumping up and down, trying to reach for the fireworks, which were illuminating their faces with blue, red, yellow, green- it was like the fireworks had replaced the silver stars, which weren’t even visible as the fireworks were in the limelight, admired by the trio and Albert. Whether they would stay here forever, the trio and Albert only had their eyes on the dancing fireworks, like colourful stars in a black sky.