Ornaments
Ornaments: Noun:A thing used to adorn something but usually having no practical purpose.
A/N-For the Christmas Boot Camp. A collection of 100 one-shots or drabbles about Christmas. Some romantic, some platonic, but all of them with a holiday spirit.
Advent: Noun: The arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.
Victoire Weasley wasn't usually a patient person. But today, she was even less patient than she was normally. Because Teddy Lupin was coming today. Teddy Lupin, her best friend, was coming home for the Christmas holidays. The thought just made nine year old Victoire smile.
She had insisted that come to King's Cross early, so she had been waiting for nearly two hours, peeping her head around the corner every five seconds, waiting to see the cloud of smoke is the distance, waiting to hear the whistle, waiting to see the train.
Although she and Teddy had sent a few letters since his departure in September, that could never compare to actually seeing him in person. Victoire missed her best friend so much. It was weird not having him around to play whenever they wanted too.
"Is the train here yet?" she asked her father.
"Didn't you just look around the corner and see that it wasn't?" Bill asked, laughing.
"No," Victoire said, glancing into the distance. Nothing.
"Victoire," he said, "You're just going to have to wait. You can't make the train come faster, and looking isn't going to help. A watched kettle never boils."
"Well, it's got to boil eventually," Victoire said lazily, quite used to her father's idioms. He seemed to think that everything that happened to her in life could be used as a lesson. Victoire absolutely loathed lessons. Her family also seemed to think that the Muggle way of going to primary school before secondary school (which was Hogwarts to them) was a good idea. So Victoire had to learn sums, after all maths was the same in all worlds (at least that's what Aunt Hermione said. But when Victoire had pointed out that wizards had a different currency then Muggles, Aunt Hermione had simply ignored her and instead told Louis that his problem was wrong) and a bunch of other things that Victoire was pretty sure she would never use in her life.
"Even if it will," Bill said, "Standing in front of it, staring at it isn't going to make it boil any faster than it would if you weren't watching."
"So what you're saying," Victoire said slowly, "Is that we shouldn't be waiting here at King's Cross because we're basically watching a kettle, and it won't boil any faster if we continue watching it?"
"Erm, yes," her father consented.
"Well then why are we here?" Victoire asked, "If you're not supposed to watch the kettle, then why are we here, watching it?" her father didn't answer. Victoire sighed. A silence emerged. Victoire stood there awkwardly, her hands in the pocket of her old jeans. They were ripped and torn, but Victoire didn't care. They were scarcely wearable, but Victoire needed to wear them, otherwise her mother might decide they need to get rid of them. And Victoire couldn't get rid of them. They contained memories.
Memories that contained happy hours of her and Teddy playing in the garden, or playing Quidditch. Memories that contained her seventh birthday when Teddy had accidentally blew up the cake when he had been trying to light the candles with his "magic". Victoire giggled to herself, not caring that people were staring.
What were they going to do this year? Teddy was going to be at Hogwarts for both his birthday as well as hers. They weren't going to be able to celebrate like they used to. Nothing was going to be like is used to be, Victoire thought bitterly, the sweetness of the memories long gone.
Victoire loathed change; actually, she detested it. Change meant moving on and losing old memories that she loved. Change meant Teddy going to Hogwarts, change meant the leaves changing into a million different colors (which was a lot, if she was right in her maths), change was just plain awful.
Change was why Victoire didn't want to get rid of her ripped jeans. Victoire sighed again. Her father looked down at her.
"What's wrong, kiddo?" he asked her, messing up her hair. Victoire smiled.
"Why does everything have to change?" she asked her dad. His smile faded.
"I wish I knew," he said, looking somewhere off into the distance, "I wish I knew…" he trailed off, leaving Victoire to stare at the ever-blank landscape. She sat down. What was the point of all this? Why had she ever even come? Teddy had probably changed in the three months that he had been at Hogwarts. What was another life lesson her father had taught her? Nothing lasts forever. Victoire wished that some things did.
Victoire sat down on a bench nearby, sulking. She didn't even really know why she was sulking. She was sulking over something she had absolutely, positively, no control over. She wished Teddy was here already.
"Why so glum, Vic?" a familiar voice asked her. Victoire perked up. Only one person ever called her Vic, and that was…
"Teddy!" she yelled, "I missed you!" she hugged him. Teddy and Victoire were usually like brother and sister, bickering all the time. They never really showed much signs of affection. Taking the mickey out on each other was really their form of affection. Teddy was startled, needless to say.
"I missed you too," he said, "But do we have to get so bloody personal?"
Victoire released him, a huge smile on her face.
Some things would never change.
