Moments

By: ChocolateEclar

Disclaimer: I do not pretend to own Chrestomanci or the Related Worlds. Everything but the plot is the property of Diana Wynne Jones.

Five Times Gabriel de Witt Is Proud of Christopher

I.

Gabriel wants to rant and rave about how Christopher has just taken a stupid risk, but then he sees his other students and realizes how much they could have lost if he had not been so foolish.

Christopher looks at him expecting the reprimand, but it never comes. Gabriel pats him on the back and walks away. He does not see the smile the future Chrestomanci beams at him. Christopher understands the silent praise.

II.

There is another wedding in Bowbridge. Gabriel sits in the front row and watches Millie walk down the aisle and grin with Christopher. Despite the slightly greenish hue to the groom's skin, Gabriel knows he has been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Gabriel also knows that love is hard to come by and even harder to keep. The fact that there is a woman out there who can stand to be with Christopher makes him think that maybe his pupil is not so intolerable.

III.

Christopher does not act much differently now that he is Chrestomanci, Gabriel notices. He is perhaps a little more reserved, which thankfully masks some of his terrible pride. He treats the castle staff well, and he is unsurprisingly diplomatic.

He remembers that little boy who absolutely hated the castle and everyone in it just for taking him away from his school friends and cricket. Gabriel knows that being in this position of Chrestomanci has not changed Christopher much. It is Christopher who has made himself this person of poise and greatness.

IV.

Christopher presents Cat to Gabriel with his usual flourish. Cat, who Gabriel insists on only calling Eric, stares at the sick man in the bed and Gabriel knows he wants to be elsewhere, but Christopher insists they meet.

Gabriel sees the Chant family in the lad. He looks up at Christopher who looks like he is greatly amused by this. Three generations of Chrestomanci in one room. It will be a long time before this Cat takes over, but in the meantime, Gabriel is sure that Christopher is the best person to teach him how to take on the duty.

V.

Gabriel asserts that his death is approaching. Christopher assures him that he will outlast the pyramids. Cat seems to take interest a little at the banter, but for the most part he sits in that extremely white room and says nothing.

Millie enters the room and there is a moment where she locks eyes with Christopher and conveys a message. Gabriel is glad that the connection between them still lives on firmly.

He studies Cat, who is watching the couple and analyzing the message. Probably translating the code, Gabriel thinks. Christopher picked a good successor, he decides. He can just imagine the boy's namesake animal gazing with almond-shaped eyes with its pointed ears perked up.

It is the little things that, when combined into one satisfying mixture, make a good Chrestomanci.