On The Second Day Of Christmas PV Elsian Finished

As promised, or maybe…not promised…? Elsian had, in fact, not gotten the chance to promise, swear or make any form of oath against or for his arrival today before Dorion had run off the day before. And yet, arrive he had, and at what he considered a respectably early timeframe.

Which was basically, just showing up on time-ish.

Which he had.

After he could escape the traffic death trap that was the small hall.

Still stuck in his school robes, the only pop of color the boy had worn today was his ridiculously long Gryffindor scarf, which Kitty had taken to hanging from, and the bracelet given to him yesterday. Firmly tied around his right wrist. He’d already taken a liking to it, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, so had Kitty if one judged the way she seemed to favor his right wrist to hang and crawl on all day today.

“You can’t have it.” He said firmly, a smile betraying the stern words as he propped the spider onto his scarf for the 3rd time in the last 5 minutes. She simply swung from the scarf, staring up at him with judging, beady eyes. As if to question how cruel he could be.

“Mine. It’s mine.” He stopped in front of the library doors, pushing open a single heavy door, “looking at me like that won’t change anythin- hey!” In answer she scrambled back up his torso, crawling all over his right arm and he squawked, cutting off her path with his free hand. This didn’t seem to deter her like usual though, oddly enough. Instead of a sulking or mischievous spider trying to hang from his robes or hide in his scarf she jumped off him, excited, as if she’d seen something, and skittered through the door into the warm library. “Kitty-!”

He followed quickly less he lost sight of her, an exasperated sound dragging itself from his throat.

But he didn’t have to go far at all.

A rush of relief as he caught sight of Kitty stopping by Dorions feet in greeting, little legs touching the others shoes before crawling off towards Buttons. Allowing the cat to sniff or lightly bat at her before she tried to crawl or jump onto the cat to initiate whatever odd form of tag or other number of little games the 2 played. The boy grinned, lifting up his hand to lazily wiggle his fingers in greeting at the Hufflepuff. “Hey Creampuff~” He wasted no time in grabbing the nearest chair to drag over and collapse into, staring at them content and happy enough with his chin propped in hand, “Soooo, why are we here? Wait-”

He squinted at them, suspicious.

“This isn’t a trap right? Are you trying to butter me up for OWLs studying?” Despite the obvious humor, you could still hear it for the whine it was.

It was a totally different story the moment he saw the package.

Like a switch really.

Elsi perked up, or rather slightly straightened from his sideways sprawl. Which was the equivalent of a dog immediately perking up at the sight of a treat for the lazy boy. “For me?” And yes, it might’ve been obviously for him, but you could excuse the confusion mixed with the jumble of childish excitement and slight wariness over the sudden gifts he was getting. Somehow it made him a little embarrassed; like he wasn’t getting something. But the small thrill that always came from getting something from Dorion heavily, oh so heavily, outweighed all possible confusion and higher decision making capabilities.

Because they were busy making the decision to open the present.

Even the package was nice, with fresh herbs that gave off the faint, pleasant scent. It made him want to be careful; more delicately than he would perhaps usually be with a present as he pulled at twine, pretty ribbons and tore at brown paper.

There was a pause as he looked at the gift. Curious. Quiet.

It melted into a surprised bark of a laugh as he held up the hat. A bright and brief thing that made his cheeks ache with the force of the pure gleeful smile the gift inspired. How could it not? It was hilarious. It was adorable. It was perfect. “No way!” He laughed, looking over the hat, “it has one for Kitty too?!”

His fingers wandered over the crocheted hat, admiring the brilliant color and flicking the ears with a quiet snicker as he shoved it onto his head and waved the matching pair at Kitty for her attention. She shared his love for it, immediately crawling over to receive her rightful presents. Her excited twitching made it a little troublesome to get it on her but they got there. The spider was crawling up his torso to perch on his shoulder the moment he finished getting it on her, maybe admiring the similar one he wore, or perhaps trying to show off. He couldn’t be sure. But what he did know was they both loved the new hats.

He looked at Dori, a small laugh following his words as the other pat his head. “I love it too much. The lake doesn’t deserve it.” He joked, patting Kitty gently. “Pretty sure Kitty loves it too.”

Here was his chance though. To ask why.

“But Creampuff, why-”

Or maybe not. It seemed the moment the boy tried to so much as utter a single word on the subject Dorion was already fleeing. Gone between one blink and the next.

He sat there for a moment, in bewildered silence for the whirlwind that was Dori these days. Even Kitty didn’t quite know what to do with herself, simply settling herself, or rather demanding to be held in the crook of his arm. Something was going on, but what, Elsian couldn’t say. Maybe Dorion was going all out this year for all their friends? Maybe overwhelmed with the holidays?

Well…he supposed it didn’t matter as long as Dori was enjoying themselves.

He looked down at Kitty. “We can schedule a mandatory holiday nap for them later.”

...


Maybe it was even for the best he didn’t know.