Ambrosia • TMR

C.17

~••Ambrosia••~

"Merry Christmas, Tom!" He sat up with a jolt as his door was almost kicked down. A sigh left his lips as he caught sight of a head with familiar messy brown hair. It looked like she just rolled out of the bed to run and see him first thing in the morning. It was sweet. Not that he would say that out loud. "Isn't it Yule?" He questioned as the girl closed the door behind her and his silencing charms activated automatically. "Well, yes. You're right, of course, but Christmas just came out more naturally," She said, walking back toward the door and opening it up. He watched her through dazed eyes, still half asleep.

"Let me try again," And the blue eyed girl walked out, closing the door quietly behind her. He braced himself for the screaming that was sure to come but after a few seconds of silence he began to relax. That was a mistake.

The door flew off the hinges so fast all he could do was lay back down onto the bed and watch it soar above his head with wide eyes. "Happy Yule, Tom!" Irene laughed seeing his 'deer in headlights' look. His face quickly morphed into a bone-chilling glare as he sat back up but unfortunately, her smile didn't falter. She was far too used to his glares to cower like Ms. Cole used to. "Help me fix the door, yeah?" Help her fix the door that she just broke off of the hinges? What did she- What did she think this was? A charity event? Blue eyes stared up at him pleadingly. It was cute, he had to admit. But he still didn't cave in his glaring. It was a battle of wills that he would not be loosing.

Eventually, she quietly smacked her teeth and reluctantly fixed the door with a quick Reparo. He smiled and opened his arms for a hug that she gave in to after a couple of seconds of  pouty defiance. "Come on let's go open the presents." Her voice was muffled from where it was shoved into his chest but he still heard her. He scoffed despite his heart speeding up at the thought of having Christmas presents for once. He laid back onto his bed with Irene still in his arms, "Lay with me for a bit. They'll still be there when we wake up." She didn't protest and snuggled herself further into his hug. This was the only way he would let her sleep on his side of the bed.

Predictably, the warmth of her body lulled him back into a quiet sleep after a few minutes.

When he woke again, the sun seemed like it was in the sky and it was peaceful. He felt well rested and the familiar weight of Irene on his chest was something he welcomed. It was relaxing and he closed his eyes again to savor the moment as he began running his hand through her tangled hair. Each time his hand got stuck on a tangle, he'd huff out a small laugh through his nose and gently began to work it out. All the while, the girl slept so peacefully that he believed this might just be her favorite place to be. In his arms.

It was cocky and maybe a bit narcissistic but you couldn't fault him if it was true.

After the sunlight peeking through his window became too much even behind his closed eyelids, he gently shook the brunette awake. She mumbled incoherently and snuggled closer just like she used to do in the orphanage. He could remember the early days of ripping her clean off the bed by her ankle. In hindsight, it was hilarious but he was pretty sure that back then, he used to actually hate her before she spoke in Parseltongue. His methods of waking her up were legitimate murder attempts just a couple of years ago. Though, sue him if he wasn't fond of sharing his space.

Irene didn't wake up or attempt to move after settling back down. Slowly, the pressure of her on his chest began to irritate him the longer he was awake and stuck like this. It was making him feel trapped and claustrophobic. The only solstice he had was the way her magic mingled with his own comfortingly. Instead of shoving her off of him like he kind of wanted to, his hand reached up to tug on a piece of her hair so hard that she woke up clutching at the spot.