Holiday Gift Hunt! PV - Ended

The group up close looked a little out of place in the Great Hall, as if even they were surprised to be standing together. Only two of them actually tried to introduce themselves, and she thought their whispered names were something like “Rose” and - even though it seemed a little odd to her - “Zeppelin”. Luckily, the other Slytherin - Skylar, she was pretty sure her name was - grabbed their attention by suggesting to pick something from the tree. For a moment Maira wanted to mention that maybe it wasn’t polite to be picking up ornaments and gifts from trees without consent, but then the girl continued.
xxx|xx“Do you dare do it?” At once the mood changed, as the Gryffindor boy didn’t even seem to wait until the full sentence was out before kneeling down and choosing a gift. Maira noticed how Rose had sounded excited too and she felt a bit bad that the girl didn’t get the chance to choose all of the options available.

“What do you think it is?” The boy asked as he put the package on the table and started ripping the paper to shreds. Maira frowned. Her grandfather would’ve absolutely said something about not wasting good paper. “A rubber chicken?! I’ll say, this is the best gift I think I’ve ever gotten.”
xxx|xx“That’s indeed a unique gift.” Rose added, and Maira couldn’t help a smirk appear on her face. It was funny that the boy’s quick actions weren’t rewarded with something actually good.
xxx|xx“Do you think one of the professors might be playing a prank on us? Maybe they hid some more of these around?”
xxx|xx“Didn’t they seem super busy before the holidays? I don’t think they’d have time to hide gifts for us.” Maira tried to add cleverly. “Besides, who would be funny enough to put in a rubber chicken? No, I’m thinking it’s someone from your own House. Lions are notorious pranksters.”

“So… uh… are there more gifts like this hidden around?” The boy who by now she was sure to have misheard his name added. He was looking up at the tree with wonderment and she was quite sure that his Hufflepuff nature was holding him back from following Wes’s example straightaway.
xxx|xx“I don’t know, but it seems fun. I’ll pick one too”, the other Slytherin said walking up to the tree and picking out the ornament ball. She even shook it. And then, in a move that shocked Maira who was always very careful with her own gifts, Skylar started breaking the ornament.
xxx|xx“What are you doing? Someone probably worked hard on that!” Maira exclaimed before it opened and something jumped out. Everyone stared at it, even Maira who seemed to have forgotten her earlier frustrations.
xxx|xx“Oh, it’s just a fake denture.” But Maira had a quick thought: she’d seen this one in the prank shops. But what does it…. Oh no, before she realised it a snowball flew from the denture’s mouth and seemed to move to any target it could find. Chaos ensued, but after a few moments the ball lay melting on the floor (and a little on her own shoes).

However, Rose seemed to have found the strength to continue something and was pulling out her wand. With a quick Wingardium Leviosa, the big gold star at the top came floating down to her. Maira was impressed - they had after all only been at Hogwarts for a few months and sometimes she still tended to forget she was an actual witch with the ability to do actual spells. Of course she had seen her parents do magic before. But knowing that it was now within her own reach was an entirely different thing. Meanwhile, Rose was murmuring something Maira couldn’t quite pick up on.
xxx|xx“It’s a riddle!” The other girl perked up suddenly, looking extremely happy.
xxx|xx“What do you think it means?” Skylar added.

“Whatever it means, I’m going to grab one too now that you’ve nearly all got one. And Zep”, Maira didn’t dare try his full name in case she was wrong and the boy was not named after a flying object. “I suggest you get one as well. That way we can join in on the fun.” She didn’t want to reach too far, so she took one right near the bottom that matched at least one House colour: a silver ball. She thought she could see an edge where the ball could be opened by twisting it and did it hard, seeing the other one came apart as well.
xxx|xx“I’m Maira by the way, if you didn’t know.”She looked down at what came out of the ornament. There was a note.

“One hid by the Christmas tree. One was near to the warm glow. One lingered beside the other, the crackle sound in between.” Maira read aloud. “Looks like we’ve got two riddles to solve.” She looked at the others in the group. A boy with a rubber chicken, one who was picking a gift with her, Skylar who had found the prankster gift and Rose who was deep in thought. “Warm glow… Sounds like a great plan. Want to move over to the fireplace, so we don’t get cold?”

As Maira walked over to the fireplace, not really waiting for anyone, she noticed only one person seemed to follow her. The Gryffindor boy who somehow still seemed extremely proud of his rubber chicken. Zeph seemed to be engaged in his own battle for a potential gift and Rose was still looking at her riddle.
xxx|xx“So, you’re a big fan of rubber chickens, then?” She asked Wes. “Or is a tiny part of you a little Badger that wants to be nice to whoever hid this gift?” Maira started warming her hands near the fireplace, looking behind and around her. She spotted both Zeph and Rose who were going towards the location of their presents. One of them was below the Ravenclaw table and the other underneath the Hufflepuff one. She almost wondered if her riddle could be related to Gryffindor and she was overthinking it.

Before she could fully worry about it however, she saw Skylar turn around and give her a certain look that seemed to be… almost, knowledgeable? Did the other Slytherin girl know Maira was struggling slightly? Maira started looking around the fireplace, and found herself opening up slightly to the one boy who did walk with her.
xxx|xx“You know, I thought I would get into Ravenclaw myself when I got here in September.” She gave a sad smile. “Guess I’m not clever enough for them though if I’m the last one to solve it.”

But then, she spotted it. “Oh, I’ve got it!” A small cylindrical package was standing right beside the fireplace, hiding somewhat behind the intricate carvings on the side. She tore off the wrapping paper. “Candy and cookies!” Maira loved candy. But she had gone on this hunt with everyone else… She opened the lid and offered Wes one first. “Want to share?” She walked back to the group. “Anyone else want some too?”