She watched as Ivy slowly opened the small present, knowing that the hesitation was all because of their mother's reaction.
Ivy stalled, fingering something in the box. Eleanor lifted up slightly to peer at the gift and caught sight of a shiny piece of jewelery.
She didn't need telling to know who it was from. Sirius had been the previous present, so this one was from Remus.
Eleanor knew everything about the conflict between Ivy, Remus, and Sirius. It had been so easy to figure it out from Ivy's novel. The similarities between Sirius and Sebastian were striking and Anne definitely had Ivy's traits. If Ivy fancied Sirius, then Remus was left with his unrequited love.
What an interesting love triangle.
As soon as her mother caught sight of the shiny, silver charm bracelet, Eleanor knew to distract herself from the squealing. Leaning forward, she caught sight of her name on one of the boxes in the back. It was a small, clumsily wrapped box that was definitely not from her parents. Curious, she hastily undid the ribbon and took off the cover.
It was a piece of a yarn. A colorful, long piece of yarn with a criss-cross design.
Eleanor stared at it for a long while, trying to make sense of the strange gift. Her gaze fell onto the piece of paper underneath the odd present and she took it out of the box without removing the yarn.
Eleanor,
I hope you don't hate your present. I asked my mum what you would like for Christmas. She said a bracelet is a nice gift for girls.
Eleanor glanced up at Ivy's bracelet her mother was now gushing over. After wincing, she went back to her note.
I didn't have any money, so I made you one.
Sorry if you think it's stupid.
Happy Christmas!!!
Liam
After a long pause, Eleanor finally took the bracelet out of the box and, taking her chances, asked Ivy to tie it around her wrist. Ivy was either too busy worrying about her present or didn't pay attention because she did it without a word or glance at Eleanor.
It wasn't until Eleanor had stared at the bracelet on her wrist for two minutes did she realize she had forgotten something. It came as a jolt, a sickening feeling in her gut, and she knew she didn't have time to remedy the situation.
She hadn't sent Liam anything for Christmas. She didn't even know they were exchanging presents. He didn't say anything before break. How was she supposed to know that they were going to get gifts for each other? She had never exchanged gifts before.
Scrambling off of the floor, Eleanor quickly said her goodbyes (though they fell on deaf ears; the source of all attention was Ivy's present) and then made her way into the study room.
She expected to find something to send him – a trinket or an interesting thing of her father's but there was nothing.
He was going to hate her. He was probably sitting with his brothers, waiting for her present and she had sent him nothing.
She was going to lose her only friend.
Rummaging through the nearest drawer, she found her father's old watch. With a closer look, she found it wasn't ticking. With a dejected sigh, she placed it down on the desk.
Would he understand if she just sent a letter?
But would his brothers tease him about the thoughtless present? She didn't want it to look like Liam had no friends. He deserved a present.
When she peeked back in the living room, she saw it was now completely empty. Her parents' voices were coming from the kitchen now. Taking her chance, Eleanor went over to the bookshelf with books and other special items.
Liam wouldn't want a book; he didn't like to read as much as her.
He liked games though. On the bottom shelf, Eleanor found various types of games, but they were her mother's – all muggle. The only one she recognized was a muggle version of wizarding chess. None of the pieces even moved.
Liam probably already had this game. Or his brothers had it. His brothers had everything Liam had – except for anything that had to deal with the wizarding world.
If only it was a set of wizarding chess.
She could -
No, that was against the rules.
But if it was for Liam...
She couldn't. It could have some serious repercussions.
Yet, she knew that it was for a good cause. It would only be one time and she would just get a warning. One little warning wasn't going to do much harm.
Liam always told her to live her life and, even though she always refused, she knew it was entirely probable to make a small change. But was this a small change or was it too drastic?
Holding the box to her chest, Eleanor slowly got up from the floor and made her way upstairs quickly, shutting her bedroom door behind her. She stood against the door for a couple seconds, reminding herself to keep breathing and then crossed over to where her wand was sitting on the desk.
Without even stopping to reprimand herself, Eleanor spilled out the contents of the box, pointed her wand and whispered "Piertotum Locomotor." She hesitated, wondering whether or not to check to see if the spell worked, but her rapidly beating heart told her otherwise.
Hastily, she took a piece of parchment from her desk and wrote a quick letter.
Liam,
Sorry this is late. I didn't know we were exchanging gifts and I didn't plan your present ahead of time.
This is a muggle game of chess. I used a spell to make the pieces move like wizarding chess since I knew that you like wizarding games.
Happy Christmas.
Eleanor
P.S. Thanks for the present.
A few minutes later, she had sent the family owl with the box and the letter. Sitting down at her desk, she folded her hands in front of her and waited.
It only took eleven minutes for Eleanor to hear the sound of feet against the hard wood of the stairs. Judging by the noise, it was two people en route to her room. In two seconds, they would be opening the door to her room and -
"Eleanor Susan Bennett, you were doing magic in the house?"
She had expected her father to be the one to yell at her and jumped slightly when she heard her mother's voice instead. With a blank face, she turned her head to look at her parents. "I wanted to see if I was correctly performing one of the charms from my essay. Since I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep without knowing, I tried the spell out for the sake of my grade in the class. I'm sorry." She said it as quick as she could, not knowing how they would react.
Her parents took one long look at her and then her father exclaimed, "Remember, you aren't allowed to use magic in the house during breaks."
Eleanor immediately nodded.
"Keep up the good work," her mother added before they shut the door behind them.
Letting out a sigh and ignoring the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she had actually done something that risky, Eleanor went to find the essay assigned over break.
His letter in return came the next day.
It came during breakfast, just as Eleanor was sitting down in her usual chair at the end of the table. The owl landed next to Ivy and she retrieved the letter, her eyes quickly glancing at the name on the front.
Catching Eleanor's eye, she moved the letter across the table in her direction. And, even though they were trying to be sneaky about it, their mother still noticed the motion.
"Did Eleanor get post?" Her tone was curious and Eleanor hesitated.
"Oh, it's just Eleanor's friend," Ivy answered for her. Her mother dropped the subject and Eleanor could breathe again. She didn't ask whether or not the friend was a girl or, worse, a boy. That would have been an awkward conversation.
Opening the letter over porridge, Eleanor caught sight of the familiar handwriting.
YOU SERIOUSLY USED YOUR MAGIC TO MAKE ME SOMETHING?!
That's against the law! Did you get in trouble? You're not grounded or anything, are you? I hope you're good. The wizarding police don't come and take you away, do they?
Send me back a message just in case!
Thank you SO SO SO much for the chess set.
Liam
This was so awesome that you don't have to worry about getting me a birthday present. This is the best!!!
Eleanor had to abandon her breakfast to quickly write a response. Just in case he really thought she was in Azkaban.
As always, a hundred thank yous to Nathpollen for editing.
And all of you reading and reviewing are absolutely amazing. I'm happy you like this story!
For those of you wondering, you will meet Liam's brothers in a later chapter. They're especially fun to write.
Sneak peek with a 17-year-old Liam and his brothers:
"LITTLE BROTHER!"
Someone tried to jump onto his back but Liam quickly turned around and scrambled to get out of the way. "Conner, what are you doing?"
"We found you!" Conner exclaimed. Behind him, Sean was grinning widely.
Liam groaned. "Great."
And the rest is a spoiler, so I'll disappear now. And...DISAPPEAR.
