The Color Yellow ~ Blaise Zabini

eleven

Blaise was so excited he could hardly contain himself. His mother had given him the idea of inviting his friends over for a gift exchange. Blaise knew it was so she could meet Isabelle and see them together, but he loved the idea. He had originally planned to exchange gifts with his friends after they returned to Hogwarts, but this idea was so much better. Mostly because it allowed him to see Izzy sooner.

So the afternoon of the gift exchange, Blaise paced frantically around the parlor, fixing odd things and redoing them a million times. His mother was busy making sure the teens would have proper refreshments while Blaise was doing this. He was so very anxious that something would go wrong.

Then finally the time came and the first of his friends came. Draco. The blond stumbled in with a satchel of gifts and an uncharacteristic smile. Blaise showed him where to sit the gifts and they settled in to wait for the others. A few minutes later Harry and Isabelle flooed in also carrying gifts.

"Happy Christmas!" Blaise cheered as the gathered around in a circle.

"Happy Christmas, Blaise!" Isabelle smiled and scooted over so that they were sitting soundly near each other. The dark-skinned boy threw an arm over Isabelle's shoulders leaving the other two boys to look at the pair questioningly.

The group of friends spent the evening listening to muggle and wizarding Christmas music and eating all kinds of snack food. They talked and talked and had a great time.

"Let's open gifts!" Draco cheered.

"Of course you want to open gifts," Harry joked poking Draco in the side.

Draco growled and then burst into laughter at the look on Harry's face. Draco then proceeded to smack Harry's shoulder playfully which caused the other two to share a significant look. Without saying a word, Isabelle stood and grabbed the gifts and distributed them appropriately.

When she sat down, she said, "I'm going first!"

Isabelle gracefully undid the package to find an envelope on top of the box. The letter inside told her to have a happy holidays and informed her the gift was from Draco. She moved on to open the box where she pulled out a Slytherin green jumper that matched her favorite yellow one. Beside the jumper, she found a container of chocolate frogs. She jumped from her seat to hug Draco warmly.

Once Isabelle was seated again, Draco began to open a box from his stack. It was a medium sized box with no card or letter so Draco just tore into the package with the eagerness of a child. The first thing he picked up was a dark, forest green jumper with his first initial sewn with colorful yarn in the center. He could tell someone had stitched it by hand, he also doubted it was anyone in this room who had done the stitching. He loved the jumper though. Then he found a horrendous pair of baby pink sock. And as if the pink wasn't enough, they had kitten heads with unicorn horns floating about them. Underneath the socks was a pair of fine leather quidditch gloves  that suited his taste much better.

Draco looked up from his gift smiling, silently questioning who the gift came from.

"It's from me," Harry shrugged, scratching the back of his neck anxiously. Draco beamed brighter and Blaise could've sworn he saw his best mate blush.

"Thank you, Potter," Draco spoke, barely above a whisper.

"It's Harry, actually," the Gryffindor remarked.

"Okay then, Harry. Hazzle. Harold. H-dawg. Harrison. Hotdog," Draco joked and Harry was beginning to wonder if he was high. However, Harry smiled because this was, indeed, an improvement.

Isabelle grinned and tried to hide it by burying her head into Blaise. He just tightened his arm around her and let her rest there. He tried to avoid thinking of their position, and failed. It was hard to act normal like this now that he knew how he felt. Even harder because he had no idea if she felt the same. But Blaise hoped Isabelle loved him too, or at least had romantic feelings toward him. It seemed as if she did, but the uncertainty made him nervous. So he returned his focus to the gift opening to realize the gift exchange was now concentrated on Harry.

The raven haired Gryffindor opened a present from Blaise containing Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and broom polish for his Firebolt.

Then Blaise grabbed a box to open that happened to be from Draco. Inside was a monogrammed Slytherin Quidditch bag for his broom and uniform. Inside the bag was a book on Potions. Blaise smiled at his best mate happily. He was glad Draco had found the spirit of Christmas afterall.

Then Isabelle opened her's from Blaise. It was a beautiful silver locket that looked antiqued, stunning, and expensive. She opened it to find to small photo openings that she intended to fill by the end of the night. Beside it was thick textbook about astronomy. Next to the textbook was a sketchbook for her to draw in. Isabelle couldn't contain her glee over the gifts. She looked up at Blaise, grinning her ever-brilliant grin and pecked him on the cheek, unknowingly doing irreversible damage to Blaise's heart.

Draco opened his next gift, it was from Isabelle. He found a Hufflepuff hoodie that was extremely obnoxious and yet extremely soft. He loved it. Draco knew he would wear it all the time and probably confuse the student body of Hogwarts.

Harry then reached for a large box and read the tag. It was from Draco. The Gryffindor glanced up at the blond and smiled a smile perhaps more genuine than Draco had ever seen from him. Harry went back to opening his gift, it was a bag just like the one the boy had gifted Blaise except it had his initials and said Gryffindor Quidditch. He opened it to find a new pair of shoes that were just his size, and of course Draco wouldn't tolerate Harry's beat up, hand-me-down, too big trainers. He also saw a book about ways to counteract and defend against dark and little known spells. Harry was shocked at the content of the book. He looked back up at Draco as if to ask if this was him really trying to help. Harry wasn't sure if Draco understood the meaning he was trying to convey from the look, but the blond nodded in response.

Blaise then opened his gift from Isabelle. He found a pair of Hufflepuff socks and a Hufflepuff hoodie similar to Draco's along with a wise variety of candy. He was so glad he met Isabelle. He was so glad he became her friend. He was so glad he let her change him. He was so glad that he fell in love.

They spent several hours in each-other's company that night. Opening gifts and talking and snacking. It was the most fun any of them had in a long time.

A.N.    I am so sorry it took me sooooo long to update and that it is mostly filler. But I think this chapter (even though somewhat boring) was really cute. Like some of their specific gifts to each-other!
Thank you all for voting, commenting, and just reading this book and for being so patient for this chapter!!!!

Comment your favorite gift from this chapter!!!

- o l i v i a 💛