She was back in England by Christmas Eve, they'd already transformed the house for festivities.
Her aunt wasn't big on parties, but she does enjoy decorating. She says she got the experience from the balls she used to attend. When Holly asked if she missed it, her aunt simply said she would rather trip on her heels down a flight of stairs, but the decorations were pretty.
They ate their meal with a side of lively chatter, although Holly couldn't help stuffing her mouth with several pigs in a blanket.
Even if they're eighteen and eleven, Uncle Ted never forgets to tell them to go to sleep or else Father Christmas won't bring their gifts. And the girls never forget to fake their sleep, until he's off snoring his way to Wednesday.
When they're sure he's asleep, Holly and Tonks scramble off their bed and tip toe out into the hallway.
Together, they make their way down to the garden.
Tonks unfolds two deck chairs while Holly unloads the ready-made s'mores, and like on every Christmas eve, they never forget to sit out in the garden and watch the shower of stars as the clock strikes twelve.
***
The air was chilly when Holly stirred awake, she turned and pulled the covers over her shoulder. Then there was a loud hoot, startling Holly sober.
When she opened her eyes, there's two things she found. One was the cause of the chilly air, her windows had been opened, and probably because of reason two.
Large beady eyes stared down at Holly, it tilted its head and hooted again. Holly jumped off the bed, her foot getting caught on the sheets. She landed on the floor with a loud thump and a sore behind, the owl only jumped on her nightstand.
After a couple of deep breaths, Holly noticed the large parcel tied to its foot. She didn't know how she missed it before, it was very heavy when she untied it. As soon as it was free of its burden, the owl took off out the window.
Holly shook the parcel, when she heard nothing that might help, she searched for a note.
A note was tucked snugly behind the knot of the twine, a small square of cardstock.
Happy Christmas, Ho Ho Holly!
P.S. I still think Jo and Laure should've ended up together :)
Your dearly beloved friend, Theodore Greyson Nott
Holly snickered, then began to carefully open the parcel. She pulled the twine, then unrolled brown parchment.
Holly saw the bright red hat first, a christmas hat. Inside was a maroon hard covered book, inscribed in gold foiling is the title:
LITTLE WOMEN
L.M. ALCOTT
Holly flipped through the pages, on the margins were Theo's untidy writing. On pieces of parchment tucked in between the pages were Holly's own annotation, much neater and easier to read.
There was only one page that Theo had dog-eared, scrawled on the heading was an echo of what he'd written earlier: Jo and Laurie should've ended up together♡.
***
The tree took up most of the space in the living room, it stood tall next to the fireplace.
Holly berries, pine cones, twinkling Christmas lights and various family ornaments adorned the branches.
There was a steady sprinkle of snow seemingly coming from the ceiling, dusting the tree and the gifts underneath.
They spent the rest of the morning opening presents, Holly and Tonks went out before lunch when Aunt Andromeda deemed it safe on the snow.
YOU ARE READING
𝖇𝖆𝖉 𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 || ᴘᴊᴏ x ʜᴘ
Fanfiction𝘿𝙞𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨? 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙. *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ In which Holly Claire Black fights through two wars and come out victorious...or does she? Holly Claire Black could've...
