He's Back

XXV

To Achieve Their Ends

When Christmas comes around, Vic refuses to let me go out and shop. But there's no way I'm not getting him something, he hasn't had a real Christmas in bloody ages.

"I wanna do something," I tell him, brushing my fingers through his hair. His arm is around me as we sit on the bed, leaning against the headboard.

"Why?" he asks, looking confused. "It's just another day to me." The comment breaks my fucking heart.

"Because..." I start, laying my head on his shoulder. "I care about you. And I want you to feel spoiled."

"But I don't care about stuff like that," he says. "I feel spoiled every fucking time you look at me."

I can't help but smile at the comment. He's so sweet, I can't handle it sometimes.

"So...what? You want a staring contest for Christmas?" I joke, chuckling for added effect.

"Shut up," he laughs, resting his head on mine. "I don't want anything. Just hang out with me and I'll be happy."

I'm not satisfied with his answer. He eventually spills that he has a plan of what to get me so finally we agree to celebrate. We both travel to the library together, since Madam Pince never leaves and no disruption goes unnoticed so we figure it's pretty safe and we can separate to wrap our gifts. I don't know what he got me or when because we spend literally every second together, but I plan on giving him one of the most secretive things I've ever been in on. Hidden in a compartment under one of the shelves is a book containing all the of Hogwarts's useful secrets. It's been passed down from troublemaker to troublemaker and eventually found its way to Jack. I figure Vic would eat it right up. We know how much he likes learning and reading.

We meet back up and safely return to the room, exchanging our gifts. He hands me a small box and I hand over the book I'd wrapped in pages of the daily prophet I'd saved that talk about him. He smiles, recognizing the articles immediately.

I hold the small box to my ear and shake it lightly, hearing something rattling inside. He furrows his eyebrows but follows my lead, doing the same thing.

"Is it...new gobstones?" I ask him. He laughs a little and shakes his head.

"Is mine...a book?" he asks, already onto me. How did he do that do fast?

"No," I reply, not really doing a great job at hiding the truth. He smiles a little and sits beside me on the small couch.

"Open it," he tells me, nudging my side lightly. I take a deep breath, kind of nervous for some reason. I take the lid off and see four small viles of liquid. There's a small label on one of them reading: Elixir of Peace.

"I never want you to feel lonely. If something with Woodbeck goes bad, or for some other reason, I can't be there for you," he admits. "If you ever need me...just, you know, take it."

I smile, feeling like I'm practically glowing. How does he still get even sweeter? I'm so fucking lucky.

"And...um..." he gets all shy, not making eye contact and blushing adorably. "The other ones are memories of mine. From before we started things...um, I was really fucking into you. I feel like you don't know that, so these prove it."