ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ²⁶⁻ "ʸᵒᵘ ⁿᵉᵛᵉʳ ʷᵉʳᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵐᵃʳᵗᵉʳ ᵒⁿᵉ"
For Yule, we had joined the Malfoys to go to Ireland. I'd never been to Dublin but unfortunately, we couldn't spend a lot of time there since the Malfoys had the Malfoy Christmas Ball to plan.
But with Malfoy's expert skills, our parents had allowed us to stay a few extra days while they went home. Just the two of us.
We made sure to make the most of the time we'd been given and did things we couldn't do with our parents hovering over us, like go shopping and to cafes and a few clubs. We weren't allowed inside the club but it was fun to try.
I bought gifts for everyone before going back home.
It was the day of the Christmas Ball and my aunt and I were having our afternoon tea in the dining room.
"Can I ask you something?" I looked up at my aunt to check if it was an appropriate time to ask a particular question.
She seemed in a good enough mood looking at the way she hummed.
"Do you know who Sirius Black was?"
I finally got my head out of my book and faced her. My aunt had never seen so... Surprised? Stunned? Muddled? All of the above?
"I- I beg your pardon?"
Lillian Ambers stuttering was not something I was ready for. She was never caught off guard and even if she was, she was clever enough to hide it amazingly well.
"Well, I just assumed you went to school a couple of years before father. So, did you know Sirius Black?"
She set the paper in her hand aside and cleared her throat. "I did," she answered. I could see a faint smile on her lips but her tone reeked of sorrow and... regret.
"Was he-"
"Enough of these mindless questions, Cassiopeia," she cleared her throat and got up. "Get ready, we have a ball to go to," she added before leaving the room.
She never called me Cassiopeia. Something was definitely wrong and it had something to do with Sirius Black.
--
All of us had decided to exchange our Christmas presents at the ball itself. After dinner, all of us would gather in the Malfoys' library or Malfoy's room or the roof and we decided to do the gift exchange then.
I was wearing a black pantsuit with off-the-shoulder sleeves. I'd clipped my hair and curled it.
After saying polite hellos, I immediately made my way to where my friends were holed up.
Everything went like it did every other year. We chatted and gossiped until dinner. Had dinner and then proceeded to the roof of the Malfoy Manor to make fun of everything the obnoxious people did all night.
It was now time for the gift exchange.
I got a jersey belonging to my favourite keeper from Blaise and as usual, a large number of chocolate frogs. I got him a subscription to a fashion magazine he hadn't been able to get his hands on.
He almost burst into tears when I gave him his gift. He really was a diva.
From Pansy, I got a beautiful necklace with a butterfly pendant on it while I gave her a charmed makeup kit that did your makeup for you.
I received another necklace but it was from Daphne. It had a moon pendant on it. She gave a similar necklace to Pansy but it had a star and she said she had one with a sun. Since the three of us were out of this world, the girl said making me laugh.
Theo gave me a book about quidditch history and piles of chocolates from Crabbe and Goyle. I had given Theo a scarf with his initials engraved on it and almost a trolley full of chocolates to Crabbe and Goyle.
The most excited I was, was for Malfoy's gift.
Last Yule he had given me a necklace with a pendant of the constellation Cassiopeia and wanted to see what he would give me this year.
I was standing at the edge of the roof, leaning on the railing as I watched everyone exchange gifts.
I felt someone walk up next to me. I turned to see Malfoy, one hand in his black suit pocket and holding a small velvet box in the other.
He handed me the box and I gave him a neatly wrapped and slightly bigger box.
I opened the velvet box to see a gorgeous set of earrings. They were minimal, but definitely had diamonds on them.
"Thank you," I smiled, unable to take my eyes off them. "They're beautiful"
He seemed glad. I wasn't sure if it was because I liked his gift or because he liked my gift or both. I just decided to assume it was both.
"I was going to get you a suit since you're so fond of them," I spoke up after a while. "But you've grown up a lot so I didn't know what size to get you"
He'd grown quite a lot. Even while wearing heels, I was just barely his height. He'd grown a few muscles and his face structure had changed too.
"Yeah," he chuckled. "Now you're the short one"
I rolled my eyes and turned around. I hear him chuckle making me chuckle as well. He turned around too and the both of us were now facing the huge garden that surrounded the Malfoy Manor instead of our friends.
"I'm still the smarter one," I point out turning to face him with a smirk.
"Still?" he furrowed his eyebrows. "You never were the smarter one," he turned to me with an even larger smirk.
I decided not to engage in childish slander and instead punch him and run away. This resulted in him following me and hitting me back.
And for the rest of the night, Malfoy and I were engaged in an incredibly serious hit-and-run battle.
A/N
Lillian Ambers knows something...?