Hogwarts Mystery -T and B

Year 4 Part 5

Pure fluff 😊

Christmas was around the corner a Hogwarts was bustling with excitement.
At breakfast, Barnaby got a letter. He's gotten quite a few letters this year come to think of it. His family never writes to him. I didn't want to pry, but my curiosity got the best of me
"Got a secret admirer?" I giggled
"Sort of" he blushed
"Wait what? I was just joking"
"I bought Lolly an owl at the beginning of the year so we could write to each other"
I laughed "oh that secret admirer"
"She wants me to come for Christmas. You too obviously"
"Can you come?" I asked excitedly. I knew Barnaby's fsmy didn't really do holidays and the thought of him spending my favorite holiday with me was exciting.
"Of course. My Gran will be happy to not have me home"
"That's terrible, but amazing you can spend Christmas with me"
'Yeah. Charlie, Bill, and I are going to spend the next Hogsmeade trip shopping"
"Oh that works out perfectly. Penny, Rowan, and I planned on doing the same thing"
At the next Hogsmeade visit, Penny and Rowan were curious about my surprise for Barnaby.
"I thought of the perfect gift. When he was younger he had a pet Kneazle, but it...died" I didn't want to tell them You Know Who drowned it. Barnaby doesn't like too many people knowing about his family. "So I am going to have the Magical Menagerie send a Kneazle kitten to my grandparents so it will be a complete surprise"
"That's adorable. He will love that" said Penny
"What do you think he will get you?" asked Rowan.
"Oh I don't know. I'm just happy he's coming and can have a nice holiday. I'm not sure he has ever had a real Christmas with a tree and stuff."
"It's so weird hearing stories about how he grew up. He so sweet" Penny said sadly
She didn't know the half of it
Rowan and Penny got him some sweets. We made our way over to the menagerie to look at the kittens.
We spent a lot of time just cuddling and petting them. I saw a calico colored one who seemed shy and not into cuddling. That wasn't going to work. A bluish gray with dark gray stripes, but he seemed kind of aloof... no. A cute pink one...not sure about Pink. Then a pure white kitten with gray tips on her ears jumped up into my arms and started purring. Penny and Rowan came over and she was so friendly and cuddly.
"This is his Kneazle" I just knew it. The shop owner rushed over when he saw us.
"Oh I think she likes you guys"
"She's not for me. she's a gift to someone special. He loves creatures, especially kneazles and his pet Kneazle died when he was young. I think this little cutie will be perfect"
I told him the plan and he promised to get her to my Grandparents house on exactly Christmas Eve. I also bought her some accessories. She needed a beautiful collar with tag and a little bed.
On our way back to Hogwarts, I could hardly contain my excitement.
"You better not spill the beans" said Rowan
"It's going to be so hard, but I won't. I can't wait to see his face when he sees her"
Everyone left the morning before Christmas Eve. Pops picked us up at the train station and when we got back to the farm, Lolly burst out the door and ran straight to Barnaby to give him a hug.
"Wow. I guess I see where I stand here" I laughed. I actually loved that Lolly loved him. And he loved her. It was sweet.
"Alright son, we need to go chop down these ladies a tree." Pops clapped Barnaby on the back. He always smiled when Pops called him son.
While the boys were out, Lolly and I baked pie and got our dough prepared for our traditional cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast.
"So how have you two been at school?"
"Great. We went to the Celestial Ball together and our friends planned a first official date for us when they found out we had never actually been on one"
"Oh yes Barnaby told me about your friend knocking over the tea cups and crashing your date"
"Oh he did? I forget that you have been writing back and forth all year"
"He's such a sweet boy. He bought us Hamish so we can keep in touch"
"Hamish? You named an owl Hamish?"
"why not" Lolly laughed
once the food prep was done we started hauling the bins of decorations down from the attic. When the boys came back from finding a tree, Barnaby shoo'd us away from the bins and finished brining them down himself. Pops got the tree upright and in the right spot. I showed Barnaby how to string the lights.
"I'm a little crazy about the tree so don't mind me if I come behind you and move things a bit" I told him
"Oh she's insufferable with the tree. It's got to be perfect or else she has a fit" laughed Lolly
"Well I have high expectations and will accept nothing less than perfection" I said "Which is why I'm with you" I whispered to Barnaby who blushed
"Now when it comes to hanging the ornaments, you can't put ones that are the same color near each other. And they should be evenly spaced by size...but not too evenly spaced. It has to look like we just happened to put the ornament there haphazardly even though it took careful planning"
"Umm.... so where should I put this one?" he asked about a red and gold glittery one. "Here?"
"No. see there's a gold one right there next to it. so it should go over there near that green one"
Pops and Lolly laughed "Just let her do it dear. We can't do it right either"
Barnaby sat with my grandparents on the sofa with a cup of tea while I finished the tree.
"There. perfect." I said stepping back "except this branch looks a little funny.aybe we should trim it"
"Don't you touch that tree! It's perfect" said Pops. "One year she thought every branch needed to be trimmed and we had to find a new tree" he whispered to Barnaby loudly
"I heard that"
After dinner, we all played a few hands of UNO. Barnaby wasnt allowed to sit next to Lolly after the last time. He ended up kicking our butts.
"Alright I gotta turn in early" I yawned "Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!"
Barnaby followed me upstairs. We got our pajamas on and he came into my room to talk before bed. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him without a shirt on.
"You know when you walk around half naked it drives me crazy"
"That's why I do it" he winked "Pops let me cut down the tree. It was pretty  fun. He showed me how to use the saw"
"Pops hates cutting down the tree so you did him a favor" I laughed. "The sawing motion hurts his shoulder. Last year I helped him, but I'm not very good at it"
"You're good at decorating the tree though....as long as you do it by yourself" he laughed
"When Jacob and I were little, we used to decorate the tree ourselves. When he disappeared it felt like the only thing I could control the outcome of.... the tree. So I guess I get a little crazy about it"
He put his arm around me and kissed the top of my head. "I can handle your crazy" he chuckled
"I'm really glad youre here"
"Me too"
We kissed goodnight and I reluctantly let go of him.
The next morning I shot out of bed and ran across the hall to wake up Barnaby.
"Happy Christmas Eve!!!" I shouted louder than I meant to
"Can't wait to see how excited you are tomorrow morning" he laughed
"C'mon c'mon get up let's get going!"
"ok, ok, I'm up" he said getting out of bed
My heart did its pitter patter thing at the sight of him.
After breakfast, we got dressed and the four of us went into town to look at the decorations and window dressings.
"This is one of my favorite things about Christmas. Seeing all the shops decorated and watching all the people."
"Theres a new little coffee shop up the block" said Pops "You two should go and warm up and have lunch"
"I think they want a romantic stroll without us" I said as we walked away "Even after all these years, they are still so in love"
"Or maybe they wanted us to have a romantic lunch"
"Maybe a little of both"
We ordered a light lunch and some cappuccino.
"This is really good" Barnaby had never had cappuccino before
"I can't wait to give you your present. I've been excited about it for weeks. Penny and Rowan thought for sure I would ruin the surprise"
"There's still time" he laughed
After lunch we walked hand in hand down the street. One of the shops had mistletoe on their awning.
"Look" I said pointing up
"What?"
"Mistletoe"
"....."
"It's tradition that if you walk under mistletoe, you kiss"
"I like that tradition" he said pulling me in and pressing his lips to mine. It was as if the world around us disappeared. We were the only two people in existence. When we finally broke apart, we both remembered we were in the middle of a busy sidewalk and laughed.
Later that evening, after dinner, we were all in the living room watching Christmas Speciald. Barnaby was super into the Grinch, which was one of my favorites too.
"Oh someone is at the door" I jumped up as soon as the bell rang. I knew exactly who it was.
"Miss Bond?"
"Yes. that's me"
"Here is your special order" said the delivery wizard handing me a beautifully wrapped box with a bow
"Thank you!" I was trying to hide my excitement
"This is for you" I said sitting next to Barnaby and handing him the box
"Can I open it now?" he smiled
"You better"
He carefully untied the bow and lifted the lid off the box. Instantly his eyes flooded with tears
"You got me a Kneazle" he whispered
"Do you like her?"
"This is the best gift I have ever gotten" he whispered as he lifted the kitten of of the box. She climbed up and lay on his shoulder like a little white scarf.
"She likes you. What do you want to name her?"
"Marie. I think she looks like a Marie"
Magically, the name Marie appeared on her tag in beautiful scrolling letters
Marie jumped down and started playing with the stray ribbon from the gift box
"I don't know what to say..." he whispered
"I'm glad you like her. Penny, Rowan and I played with all the kittens and she was the one. She was so sweet and cuddly. I knew she was the one for you."
"I have something for you" he reached into his pocket and took out a small box.
I opened it and there was a gold signet ring inside.
"It's been in my family since the 12th century. It's the original family crest. It was changed about 150 years ago to an ourobouros with Pura Semper. But now that I'm in charge of the estate, I'm going to have it changed back."
I looked closer and there was a coat of arms with a unicorn engraved with the word Viribus over it and Superbia is underneath.
"Strength and Pride" I smiled "It's perfect, but are you sure you want me to have such a precious gift?"
"Sometimes you choose your family. You taught me that. I want you to have this"
I slipped it on my middle finger on my right hand and it instantly shrunk to fit.
"See? Perfect fit. It was meant for you"
"Now I don't know what to say"
"I'm just glad you like it" he smiled
We played with Marie for a bit and decided to get to bed early. He came into my room which was turning into a fun tradition that I missed at school.
"I still can't believe you got me a Kneazle. It's the perfect gift"
"I remember when you told me the story about You Know Who drowning yours, you were so upset about it. I knew you needed one. I love you and I wanted this Christmas to be really special."
"It's special because I'm spending it with you. No one has ever loved me as much as you do."
"You deserve to be loved"
He tried to blink back tears but one fell. I wiped it away with my thumb. "So, this ring" I said changing the subject. "It's been in your family such long time. Are you really sure you want me to have it?"
"You are the only person I want to wear it. Strength and Pride. 2 words that describe you perfectly. I want you to have something of mine... because you are more family to me than anyone related by blood"

The next morning Barnaby ran into my room before I was awake.
"Wake up it's Christmas!" he whispered loudly
I sat up quickly smiling "Christmas!!"
"Look, you got presents. So did I"
"Let's open them together. I'll bring mine over"
He carried most of my gifts over to his room himself. Most of our friends sent us sweets.
"This is from Mrs. Weasley!" it was a hand knit sweater with a broom on it
"I got one too!" he said putting it on. it was a Dark gray sweater with an emerald green 'B'.   Charlie gave Barnaby an old copy of Fantastic Beasts with tons of notes in the margins. "I think this is Professor Kettleburn's personal copy with all his notes!"
"Bill set up a date for us at the Three Broomsticks. I bet Charlie told him about Madam Puddifoot's" I laughed
"This is the best Christmas ever" he said grinning.