CHRISTMAS MORNING STARTED WITH ELLIS awaking to the feeling that she had laughed herself up. It took her a few moments to figure out how that could happen—funny dreams were still actively avoiding her. Then the memory of the day before broke into her head, and she let out an involuntary chuckle. She could almost hear his voice...
I'm...a wizard...
It was hard to decide which was more comical: what he'd said, or what he'd looked like when he realized what he'd said. Rather overlooking the rest of yesterday's events, she smiled at the overhanging canopy before sitting up and magicking the velvet drapes apart.
"Accio Presents!" said Ellis.
She placed down her wand just in time to catch the few parcels that had soared towards her from the foot of her four-poster (there seemed to be a bit more than expected). She opened the largest of all first: soft and bulky, it was from Valrey and Alfred. She was just about to get out of bed to try it on when she was forced to jump out of it with a loud shriek, feeling as though someone had pumped a truckload of ice through her from the bottom.
Having risen through her mattress, the Bloody Baron now floated above it, looking supremely indifferent.
"Oh, didn't see you there, missy," he said unapologetically.
"I thought we've talked about this: no visitations through my bed!" Ellis rubbed her backside on which she had fallen upon sourly.
"Strictly speaking," said the Baron in a ceremonious tone, "you said no visitations through the bed while you were asleep, which you weren't. It doesn't count."
Ellis rolled her eyes.
"Fine," she snapped. "No visitations through me. At all times," she added quickly, having seen the Baron open his mouth, obviously to interject a ridiculous retort of his own.
"You take all the fun out of things." The ghost folded his arms, pouting.
"Merry Christmas to you, too."
"Is it though?" said the Baron moodily.
"Oh, stop being such a grinch."
"Who gave you that?"
Standing in front of the mirror, Ellis was modeling a long emerald green cloak—its inner layer cosy, the outermost one glossy, made of fine silk and embroidered with golden talon on the upper left corner of the chest while a corresponding silver serpent hung on the right.
"My house-elf," said Ellis, admiring the exquisite workmanship of Valrey's.
"For the Harpies and Slytherin?" asked the Baron, who knew that Ellis was an avid supporter of the all-witches Welsh club.
"I suppose," replied Ellis, shrugging, but did not elaborate.
Alfred had gifted her a new set of pajamas, almost the same colour as Valrey's cloak but bedecked with large white polka dots, whose arrival couldn't be more timely. The pair the butler had given her last Christmas, which she was currently wearing, had been such a favorite of hers that it was now so faded after so many washes; the constellations printed on the fabric were hardly visible anymore. She surmised this was also a gesture to celebrate her making into Slytherin House.
What remained were a small squarish package and another resembling a wrapped sweet fit for a giant, both of which were dubious. Who else would be sending her Christmas presents?
The oversized candy turned out to be a pack of Licorice Wands hidden under mounds of cellophane tied at the ends, which was accompanied by a tiny wizarding Christmas card (the cartoon reindeers on the front were flicking snow balls at each other with their noses):
Dear Ellis,
Merry Christmas! I hope you'll have a sweet time.
Can't wait to see you back in school,
Rolf
But instead of having "a sweet time," though she found the pun charming and befitting him, Ellis felt guilty; she hadn't sent Rolf anything. She was rummaging through her trunk ("What's wrong?" blurted the Baron) for something to reciprocate when she stopped abruptly. Sure, they had sat together in lessons and partnered up for the practical bits whenever necessary, but Ellis thought she had made the boundaries clear that they were merely classmates—and sending anything back would only blur that line and fuel his hopes. Perhaps Hufflepuffs had their own language she needed to learn in order to effectively communicate with them. Luna Lovegood seemed to have received the message all right.
Finally, perched on the edge of her bed, Ellis peeled back the copper paper bearing a repeating snowflake design to reveal a canary-yellow box. Immediately, she had a bad feeling—at least, that's what she chose to attribute her accelerating heart rate to. Inside was a single Chocolate Frog and an origami unicorn labeled Open Me inked in a neat, slanting penmanship she didn't recognize. Ellis obliged, her eyes scanning the creased slip of parchment, then dropped it, looking flabbergasted.
"What's wrong now?" said the Baron, gliding over and hovering in a bent posture so that he could read the note (which he could not pick up) that had drifted onto the floor. " 'Hey, you'—Hey, you?" The Baron snorted.
" 'Thanks for not letting me walk into Blake. Wishing you a merry Christmas.
" 'Cedric'—Cedric! As in Caesar Dittany, Cedric?!" The Baron was positively excited; Ellis didn't respond. He continued, " 'PS. Since you're not collecting the cards, could I have it if you get Ptolemy?' "
Still as silent as a mute, Ellis was in shock. Her head was reeling with images as though she was watching her life as an analogue movie whose film was being spooled backwards in the projector at lightning speed. At a particular scene it paused, then played back...
With luck, and at the end of the train, she had found an empty compartment. Her chauffeur to King's Cross, Alfred helped to load her belongings into it, nagged at her to eat and sleep properly and not study all the time, half-hugged her good-bye (because, unlike Alfred, Ellis didn't like hugs and had wriggled herself free), then left her to settle by the window, where she sat perusing Voyages with Vampires.
Shortly, the Hogwarts Express was trundling out of the station...
A plump witch with a food trolley appeared in the doorway around one in the afternoon, from whom Ellis only bought a Chocolate Frog, having had a very wholesome, delicious, and satisfying lunch of Alfred's signature homemade tuna melt. No sooner had Ellis returned to her seat than a group of boys came tramping up the corridor to the cheery lady's cart, placing their orders. Ellis paid them no attention, their voices muffled by the closed door anyway, but devoured her Frog as she reread The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)—she'd given up on Gilderoy Lockhart's books; they were all utterly rubbish in her opinion. But then somebody knocked, slid the door back, and a male voice carried inside.
"I think you've dropped this."
Before even seeing it out of the corner of her eye, Ellis already knew the intruder had to be holding up the Chocolate Frog card she had chucked out earlier.
"I don't want it," she said, though speaking to her spell book. "Take it if you like."
"Don't you collect?"
"No," she lied. She just didn't want to explain why she didn't want that card.
"Well, you could start—"
"No."
A beat: Ellis stared unseeingly at the volume, sensing the boy's gaze on her.
"Oh," he said, evidently stunned. "I'm sorry."
Another beat: Ellis frowned at the words of Miranda Goshawk. People never apologized for her being rude to them...
"Well, I've already got Dumbledore, so—"
"Leave it then!"
As much as he was taken aback, Ellis felt rueful for lashing out at him. It wasn't his fault that he didn't know she preferred to be alone and undisturbed.
"I'm sorry," said Ellis, and meaning it, though refusing eye contact and only peering at his sneakers and the ankles of his trousers. "Just do whatever you want with it. And shut the door after you, if you please."
Pocketing the card, the intruder departed, closing the door behind him...
"Helloooo?" Ellis heard the Baron's sing-song voice as if from faraway.
"Baron," she said tentatively, "do you remember when I told you I found Caesar's voice familiar?"
"Yes, you said you couldn't remember when you could have heard it before."
"Well," said Ellis, "I do now."
AN: Thank you lovely readers for 34K reads and 1K votes! I hope everyone's enjoying this journey thus far! Happy reading!