China Doll

Part 42

Astoria POV:
To say Draco confused me would be an understatement. One minute he's going off about the problems of exposing our engagement, and the next telling my bullies off and... was he flirting with me?

I could have puzzled over it til I was ninety, but I had other problems. We were to leave for break tomorrow, and I didn't know what to do. All of the ties were done. They looked great, but I was beginning to think they were too impractical. They might wear it.. once and be done. Not to mention the other problem. Giving it to them. From what I understood, on Christmas morning each child had a small mound of gifts at the base of their beds. I did not know, however, how that mound appeared. I didn't want to ask anyone, because how pathetic is that. Not even knowing how to give people a gift. To be entirely honest I wasn't very experienced in receiving them either. I had gotten a few gifts over the years, the embroidery needle being one of them. The large mountain Pansy received every year fascinated me. How could such a fake person receive so many gifts?

I concluded it would be best to give the boys their gifts in person. Which was why I was now outside the fruit bowl clutching three small, soft packages. The boys knew I was leaving Hogwarts for the holidays. I hadn't told them where to though. I figured I might as well enjoy the time I could get.

Taking a deep breath, I reached out and tickled the pear. It swung open, and I made my way inside. In hindsight, I should have gotten Winky a gift, but I wasn't sure what to give her. I rubbed the spare Sickle in my pocket and decided it would do.

The boys were already there, chatting happily while stuffing their faces. I had no idea how they were able to eat and talk at the same time, but I decided that it was a boy thing I could never hope to understand. They broke away from the conversation when I dropped the packages beside them. George was leaning against a counter that Fred was sitting on, while Harry simply sat on the floor. Normally I borrowed a stool from the house elves to perch on, but I felt too antsy to sit down now.

"What's this?" Fred asked curiously.

"Merry Christmas?" I clasped my hands to my stomach to avoid fiddling with my fingers. Father hated when I did that. "Since I'm leaving tomorrow, I thought I'd give them to you now." That, and again, I had no idea how other people gave each other gifts. Harry looked up curiously when I gave him his.

"I get one?" I shrugged.

"I don't know why you wouldn't."

"Sweet!" Fred whooped from his perch. "This bird has all the power. Now bow down before the might of the Thunderbird!"

George was squinting closely at his, and I was getting worried. "How did you do this?"

"I have this enchanted needle and..." I trailed off and half smiled, half cringed.

"The thread and needle work is beautiful. Thank you."

"I'm so glad you like it. I was a little worried, you know. Like when are you gonna be able to wear it? I had to get someone else to draw the designs. I don't even know how to embroider. I basically just payed other people to do all
the-"  I cut off when George enveloped me in a big hug. I was kind of glad he had pinned my arms to my sides, because I would have had no idea what to do with them. To say I hadn't gotten many hugs in my life would be an understatement. I could probably count all the hugs I had received on one hand.

"Thank you. They're really nice." George pulled back at Harry piped up.

"A phoenix right?"

"Yeah. I always loved the phoenix. The idea of being able to rise from ruin and become not just new, but beautiful always fascinated me."

He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Thank you. You really didn't have to."

I practically beamed. "It was actually really fun. I thought it would be a bit of a drag honestly, but the whole process was thoroughly enjoyable. I've never done this before." My smile dimmed when I realized what I had implied, but didn't let it falter. It'd be no good if they began to pity me now.

"Never embroidered a tie before?" I shook my head, perhaps a little too fast.

"No. I've done lots of sewing and recycling my old clothes. But I don't have much experience with boys formal wear. Or boys clothes at all."

"You sew some of your own clothes?" George seemed incredulous. I was confused until Harry chipped in.

"Don't you have other people for that?" My smile became significantly more strained.

"I used to yeah. He taught me how, so now I do it. I'm still fairly new at it, but I'm decent at altercations."

Fred had a thoughtful look and exchanged another look with George. "Interesting."

I tilted my head in confusion, studying them for a second before I shrugged it off. "Yeah. Anyway, I should probably go pack."

"Nay mistress. Winky will take care of the rest of the luggage. I assume you only want your casual wear and some of your projects?" I turned to look at the house elf.

"Winky! Here, you can spend it on whatever you want." I handed her the Sickle, and she gave me a look. I rushed to correct myself. "I'm not paying you, it's just your Christmas gift. I figured you wouldn't want me to give you clothes so... this was the best I could come up with." The lie slipped harmlessly from my lips. I felt a little bad for deceiving her, but I felt it was a better thing to say than 'oh I completely forgot about you and this is what I had on hand.'

It's funny, because everyone says truth is such a virtue, but the truth is so much more harmful than lies. Why tell the truth when it gets you yelled at?

Winky bowed and with a loud CRACK she was gone.

I settled down to enjoy one last meal with my Gryffindor friends before the holiday that would change everything forever.