ethereal | tom riddle.

presents

"Who's going first?" Theodore asked, clapping his hands together excitedly.

"Eliza?" Abraxas asked.

She nodded enthusiastically, sliding a bottle of wine, tied prettily with a ribbon to Zabini. "Your favourite." She beamed, proud of her gift. "1756 bottle."

"How-" His mouth dropped open as he felt the bottle, looking up at her. "Where did you even get this?"

"I have my ways." She grinned, and then passed a box to Rosier. He opened it, humming appreciatively at the cashmere sweater inside it. He gave a her an approving nod, thanking her as he opened the perfume. Then, she gave Theodore a very prettily wrapped flask. "I know you have plenty, but this one's bottomless."

He gasped, opening it and looking in. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You know me so well, Salazar." He squealed, very pleased with his gift. He became even happier when she gave him a cigar, giggling like a little girl.

Orion, too, loved the rings that she gave him, saying that he'd almost bought those the other day but forgot. "Eliza." Orion laughed hoarsely, holding up the other gift Eliza had gotten him, "I have this exact scarf."

Eliza frowned, "Okay, okay. I'll get something else."

"No, no. Don't worry about it." He replied, shrugging it off.

"Hey Ori." Rosier called, sitting up from his sleeping position on the floor to look at Orion.

"Yeah?"

"If you're not going to use the scarf, I might give to my girlfriend. I forgot to get her something."

"Sure." Orion causally tossed it to him, but Rosier was so drunk already that he reacted too late and the scarf fell right on his face.

The last person left for Eliza to give her gift to was Abraxas. She'd gotten him a photo album with pictures of all of them through the years. Of course, with that came a less serious gift in the form of a toy ferret. Everyone burst out in laughter, almost tearing up as they remembered the time Abraxas had accidentally been turned into a ferret during second year.

The rest of the night passed by similarly, everyone progressively getting more drunk.

Theodore was excited to show Abraxas the gift, and insisted on going first. From behind him, he got a very delicately designed tin box and handed it to Abraxas. Theo looked at Brax in anticipation as he opened the box. Inpatient, Theodore giggled, "It's your favourite cookies!", before Abraxas even opened the box. "I made them myself. It took forever, but look at the frosting on them. It's us!"

Abraxas and Eliza exchanged a quick panicked look, knowing that his gift to Theodore was extremely impersonal, especially considering that Theodore had spent a lot of time and effort for Abraxas. Panic settled in, but he still plastered a smile on his face as Theo gave him a chaste kiss.

In attempt to distract, Eliza suddenly yelled, "Oh Salazar! It's 7pm already. The carolling will be over soon!"

Theo gasped, drunkenly standing up as he urged the others to get up as well. "We can't miss the last Hogwarts carolling. We can finish the gifts thing later on. Come on now!" He stumbled towards the door, Abraxas rushing to stabilise him, giving Eliza a grateful look for buying him some time.

They all made their way to the Great Hall where everyone was gathered to celebrate, a grand feast laid out on the tables as the younger students sang Christmas carols on the stage. As the others distracted themselves, Abraxas found Eliza and Tom.

He looked obviously worried, brows furrowed and pale blonde hair sweaty. "All the Hogsmeade stores will be closed by now. What do I do? I cannot give him the chain." He paced in front of them, running a hair through his hair.

"Do you have ribbon?" Eliza suggested, as both Abraxas and Tom turned to look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Is that your top last minute gift idea now?" Abraxas asked, almost considering it.

"I can't say I mind." Tom said, Eliza's face tingeing a shade of pink.

"He's going to hate me if I give him the chain." Abraxas ignored Tom's comment, probably having not even heard it in his state of panic.

"Okay, calm down. I'm sure you can think of something." Eliza tried to sound convincing, but it was very obvious that she did not believe her own words.

"Okay, ribbon plan is what we're going with." He said finally, stopped his pacing. "Thank you." He nodded at them, and then took off. He disappeared into the crowd, figuring out a means to execute his plan.

*

Hours past midnight, Tom carried Eliza back to his room, her almost passed out as he plopped her onto the bed. A pillow behind her back, he propped her up with her head against the board of the bed. Getting a shirt for her to wear instead, he slid her dress off completely and replaced it with the shirt. Her eyes were gradually shutting, and her blinking was slow as she looked at him undressing her. With a wave of a hand over her hair, it detangled itself. He tied it back, kissing her forehead before disappearing to get ready for bed too.

Sighing lightly, she laid her head on the pillow. She was drowsy, almost asleep, and the alcohol in her system made her sluggish. She could hear Tom come out the bathroom, shuffled around the room and then she felt him sit down beside her.

Her eyes still closed, she drowsily mumbled, "Tom?"

"Yes, darling?" He replied, looking over at her, but she didn't turn around.

Her words slurring together, she said, "I wish you would love me back." She pulled the blankets over head, deep asleep before he could reply to her or process her words. He didn't have a response, either way.