Loyalties | Barty Crouch Jr

The Malfoy Christmas

December 25, 1977 - Sunday 

Christmas morning at Malfoy Manor was just like any other day. Leonora woke up in her cold, bleak room, just like she had every. single. day. over the summer. She sat up in bed, rubbing the tiredness out of her eyes, before peering over to the window closest to her bed.

Actually, there was one small difference. A short line of gifts filled the empty window ledge, a thin layer of snow resting on top of each one.

Leonora flung her covers off and rushed over to open the window. A gust of cold air blew into the room, but the girl had hardly noticed, too excited to open her gifts. She scooped them all up in one motion, letting the layer of snow soak her top, before grabbing Illyria's present from her closet and dashing out of the room, not even bothering to close the window.

She quietly ran a few doors down to Illyria's bedroom, before barging in on the sleeping girl. After setting her gifts down gently in front of the small fireplace in the corner of the room, Leonora tiptoed over to the girl's bed. She grabbed her shoulders and started shaking as hard as possible.

"Happy Christmas!" she yelled as her friend was jolted awake, a surprised gasp escaping her lips.

"Merlin, Nora," she placed a hand over her chest, "you've nearly scared me to death."

"Sorry," the girl backed off, a smile playing at her lips. "I'm just excited. I've brought all of my gifts in here so we can open them together."

Slowly perching herself up onto her elbows, Illyria peered over to her own window, also spotting a small line of gifts along the ledge. As Leonora moved over to sit by the fireplace, Illyria grabbed her gifts, quickly brushing the layer of snow off first, before pulling them in and setting them down on the floor next to Leonora's.

As Illyria finally knelt down beside Leonora on the ground, the two were able to finally start opening their gifts.

From Thalia, both girls had gotten a single sweet; what they got every year from the girl. Illyria had unwrapped a blue sugar quill, while Leonora had unwrapped a fizzing whizzbee. Each sweet also came with a small piece of parchment, the only words being "Happy Christmas - Thalia" written on each.

Illyria's eyes twinkled as she opened Leonora's gift. She trailed her fingers down the smooth fabric as she stretched her arms out, holding the dress in front of herself in order to admire the entire thing.

"This is beautiful, Nora," the girl beamed. "You've really outdone yourself this Christmas, thank you so much!"

Leonora grinned. "You're very welcome. I saw it and thought that it would be perfect for the New Year's party."

"I'll definitely be the most well-dressed witch there now," the girl laughed, before turning to her friend. "Open my gift now." Illyria pushed a small box over to Leonora, who immediately and hastily began ripping the silver wrapping paper off.

Inside the box, was a single chocolate frog and a velvet box containing a thin, silver bracelet, lined with diamonds. Leonora's eyes widened at the sight as she let out a small gasp.

"Now we can match," Illyria beamed once more, holding up her own wrist to show off an identical bracelet. "Francis was telling me about something like a friendship symbol, I think it was? Like muggles have matching necklaces or bracelets, and since you already have that necklace, I figured we could have matching bracelets!"

Leonora was speechless. She gently pulled the bracelet out of its velvet box, admiring the diamonds as they glittered in the light. It must have cost her a fortune.