Day Thirteen - Secret Santa
Harry and his friends have overcome their differences with Draco and his friends. The gang decide to have a Secret Santa gift exchange to help show house unity to the rest of the school.
It was the day of the secret Santa exchange between Harry, Draco, and their respective friend groups. The word had gotten out to the rest of the school about it, and the teachers had requested they do it in the Great Hall before people went home for the holidays to show that house unity was indeed possible.
They gathered in front of the teachers table so everyone could see them. Ron was the first up to open his gift from Daphne, which was a Chudley Canons jersey.
'I don't like joke gifts, so be very grateful Weasley,' Daphne told him before he could say anything.
'Thanks, Daphne,' he said simply.
Next up was Hermione, who received a book from Pansy that contained all kinds of beauty charms.
'I figured you'd like some charms for smoothing your hair without faffing about with potions for it,' Pansy told her. 'I know you're not one to be too bothered by your appearance, and you wouldn't get this for yourself, so I got it for you.'
Thankfully, Hermione appreciated the gesture and was not offended.
Harry went next, who was given a modified 'Potter Stinks' badge and a bag of Honeydukes sweets from Theo. The badge now read 'Potter Only Kind of Stinks'. Harry simply laughed, pinned it to his robes and tucked into his sweets.
Then went Pansy, who was gifted a potted pansy by Neville, along with some Honeydukes chocolate.
'I know pansies are kind of hard work to look after, but you don't have to keep it alive if you don't want to. Draco and Daphne told me your favourite chocolate but they wouldn't help me any more than that so I wasn't sure what to get you.' Neville was feeling very self conscious about the gift he had given.
'Thanks, Longbottom. Luckily I like pansies and I already know how to keep them alive. The chocolate is a good shout as an extra though.'
Neville let out a sigh of relief.
Blaise opened his gift from Ron next. Ron didn't know much about the Slytherin, so he found out from Theo and Draco what his favourite snack was, and gifted him a large box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans along with a large, ornate looking feather quill.
'Thanks Weasley. You have surprisingly good taste in writing equipment,' Blaise said simply as he admired the quill. He offered the box of beans around as the gift giving moved onto the next person.
Theo opened up his gift from Hermione, which was unsurprisingly a book. She had given him a copy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
'Of course Granger would gift me a book,' Theo said with a smile. It was, in fact, one he had stated previously that he would like to read to "find out what it's all about" after hearing Hermione talk about it one day.
'Thought you'd enjoy it,' she shrugged with a smile of her own.
Daphne, being the only Slytherin receiving a gift from another Slytherin, had what everyone deemed to be one of the better gifts, as it came from someone who already knew her. Blaise also knew that Daphne would be furious to receive any kind of joke gift, so he gave her what he knew to be her favourite sweets and an ornate hair slide.
'Thank you Blaise, for knowing me well enough to get me a proper gift,' she smirked, putting the hair slide in and pulling out a small mirror to admire it.
Neville went next, opening his gift from Draco, which was a book on exotic plants.
'Wow, thanks Malfoy!' Neville gushed as he turned the book over in his hands and flipped through the pages.
'Never thought you'd be so studious, Longbottom, but here we are,' Draco gestured to the book. 'Just don't read it all at once.'
Draco was last to open his gift, which was from Harry. He hesitated to unwrap it and felt justified in doing so when out of the paper fell a soft ferret toy.
'Potter!' He shouted as he held up the gift for everyone to see. 'A ferret? Really?'
'Sorry, Malfoy, I couldn't help myself,' Harry shrugged as those in the hall who understood the reference laughed quietly. 'There's something else in there.'
Malfoy looked back amongst the paper to find a quill similar to Blaise's and a bag of his favourite sweets.
'Well, that's better I suppose,' he said simply. The teachers were all a little relieved he hadn't made a bigger deal out of the ferret, and were glad to see the gift exchange had gone well.
'Well, that was certainly… interesting,' Professor McGonagall began as everyone made their way back to their seats at the house tables, newly opened gifts in their hands. 'Thank you for showing us that house unity is, indeed, possible.'
'Yes thank you,' Professor Dumbledore said as he stood up from the middle of the teachers table. 'It is nice to see house unity, particularly between the two houses and their students who have shown the most animosity towards each other in the past. Now I believe it is time for the final feast before students go home for the Christmas break, so I'd like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and enjoy your dinner.'
Dumbledore sat back down as the feast appeared. The gifts that had been exchanged were passed around a bit between the friendship groups, and they were all grateful to have received things that weren't too bad, considering who they were receiving them from. Even Draco was seen smiling at his soft ferret at one point.