tis' the season... errand

forward date: about a week and a half before winter break
link to gem handing the gift in (secretly): bada boom

"Tis' the season to be a teacher's pet!"
"Being a nice person doesn't mean bein' a teacher's pet, you wank stain!"

Gem was all about being polite, giving, and being an all-around kind person. He'd taken pride in these qualities he'd been raised with, forgetting about the fact it was best to be humble about it. He'd spent a good amount of galleons on this gift, he felt very obligated to puff his chest out and grin real wide when he saw them set out in front of him.

It started in Diagon Alley, when he'd first signed up for the secret Santa. He never considered himself a big fan of Herbology, but he was a bit of a suck-up when it came to Professor Boniface. He'd never had a single ugly thing to say about that chap, he was kind, collected, and had a motivation to teach his students a right thing or two about plants-- and... stuff.

With that being said, Gem felt very stumped when he realized he actually had to do something. He'd never consider himself very ambitious, but he liked to impress-- he liked unique, one-of-a-kind gifts, ones you couldn't replicate in your wildest dreams. This was proven very difficult, since he was twelve, and his teacher was... older, and had probably seen a whole lot. He felt very bad for whoever got Lear, they must've been having the toughest time of their lives, he betted so.
He still felt like he shouldn't have waited much time dawdling about what to do, so he went searching for stuff around his room, under his bed, through his sheets, in his bag, trunk-- everything, until he spotted a leather bound book, one he told himself he'd use for something important someday. He sat himself up against his bed, flipping through the empty pages of white, smooth paper, dragging his fingers down it thoughtfully. It was then that he remembered his friend, Emerly, went around pressing flowers into books.

"Bloody hell!" He exclaimed, slamming the book shut. "You're a genius, Emerly!"

And so his journey began.
There were far too many flowers, and he knew too little to even bother. Instead, while venturing into Diagon Alley with the book tucked under his arm, he looked for anything plant-y, something that seemed pretty enough. There was aconite, asphodel, bitter root, and a whole lot more that he went sniffing around for, purchasing if he had enough money. There was a lot, and he was running a bit low on his budget-- still, determined, he went searching for more until he couldn't carry anymore.

Settling back into Hogwarts, right in his cozy dormitory, he began to press the herbs and flowers into each of the pages, occasionally making pockets out of the paper and putting them in there (promptly decorating it with some ink, so it wasn't very mundane). It took just about all night, and he didn't even get to marvel at his work before he'd completely knocked himself out.

The very next morning, he'd been unpleasantly woken up by a shoe to the face.

"Wake e' hell up, Stu! Yer gonna be late!"
"Did ya fookin' throw that at me-"
"LANGUAGE!"
"Sorreh- Uh, did ya throw yer SHOE AT ME? ON PURPOSE?"
"DON'T ASK ME THINGS YOU AREN'T READY TO HEAR THE ANSWER FOR. WAKE UP!"

With a reluctant groan, Gem pulled himself out of bed, fully clothed in his uniform that he'd fallen asleep in the night previous. While he reached up to rub his eye with the heel of his hand, a loud thud startled both him and his cat, Basil.

"Mm, wh- OH," His eyes sparkled, his lanky arms swooping down to snatch the leather book off the ground, carefully opening it up with his index finger, flipping the pages open. Satisfied with his handiwork, sure, but... a generous amount of pages weren't at all filled-- in fact, about two-thirds of the book was still completely cleared out, not a single thing properly in it. He sighed frustratedly, his teeth crushing into his bottom lip.

What the hell am I supposed to do now?

"GEM!"
"Comin'! I'm comin'..."


Thinking about what else to add into the notebook had to be the most difficult thing he'd ever had to do.
He considered just having it be an empty notebook to write on, just something to take notes in-- but that felt like a waste, Gem didn't want his pretty, well-made, expensive notebook being used for notes about which students Boniface hated the most, or worse, a bullet journal of lesson plans. He physically cringed at the idea, instead getting back to his Charms work, not that it did a lot of helping.

A solid day had gone by, and Gem still thought of other things to add to his Christmas gift. It wasn't until he'd sent a letter to Leland, that he had an epiphany.

[font=Courier New]Leland,

I am fine. As fine as someone can get when it comes to making an original gift for a teacher you only know loves plants more than he loves actual magic, or maybe himself. I don't know how his brain functions, and I think interrogating him would blow my cover, like when I snuck into dad's closet and took note of all of the clothes he wore so I knew what to get him for his birthday even though he was in the middle of shaving, standing right behind me. He owns a lot of sweaters.

I've got the notebook and all, added all the plants I could legally purchase at my age at Diagon Ally, pressed them into the pages, made it look excellent. With that said, that book has eighty pages counting, and I've only filled about thirty. I have no idea what to do, do you have any ideas? Help. Please.

Sincerely,
Gem Stuart. [/font]

There was relief, when Leland responded. Choppy, but it came with two packages, both shaped like long, thick boxes, one girthier than the other. Sitting up in his bed, Gem unwrapped the gifts first-- one was a neatly packaged dagger, and the other was a stack of photographs-- mostly ones of nature, flowers, some muggle, some magical. In the letter, Leland didn't say much;



It was late, but Gem wasn't that tired. That didn't mean he wasn't stumped for a bit.
Of course both of them were Ravenclaws, but what the hell was a dagger and a few polaroids of a garden of 'curious' flowers going to do?

He spent most of the night pasting the photos into the notebook, nice and neat, some stacked on one another, but so it was aesthetically pleasing. But even if he had filled most of the pages up, there was a hefty amount of pages left. He'd hoped Leland had the common sense to--

Oh. He got it now.

It was getting mighty late, Gem was getting frustrated, but he was suddenly very glad he had glue.
It took about three hours, glueing all those last pages together and then carving a damn square into the middle of it, (and making it look neat) but boy was it worth it.

"Good knife," He breathed, smacking his lips quietly. Glancing out the window, he noticed the sun peeking its way out the mountains. In a hurried manner, he carved Boniface's name into the leather cover-- just so it was official. Again, Gem fell fast asleep before he could even admire his handiwork- this time, he did it with a smile.

The day repeated, and another day, and another, and Gem counted the seconds until it was time to send his gift in all secretly. There was still work to do, but he'd leave it until two or so days until it was time.

He'd wrapped the gift up in the study room, had the letter typed up and tucked into a nice, white envelope, all tied together with some string (and some pinecones, as a cute decorative. He figured Boniface would appreciate something pretty).

It was all a matter of waiting, now.

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